A Light in the Black is the first novel by Chris Westwood, a British author of children's and young adult fiction.

[1] It was first published in the UK in 1989 by Viking Kestrel (part of the Penguin Group) and in the US in 1991 by HarperCollins Children's Books.

Andersen Press) and short-listed for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 1990.

[2] Michael Baldwin, The Guardian: In Chris Westwood's A Light in the Black (Kestrel) a hypnotic stranger drops into town and the locals begin to drop out.

The plot may be as old as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, but the writer is extraordinarily — no, paranormally — compelling, and gives off a very sinister glitter.