Occasionally a car swooshed by in the rain and its headlights would swing round momentarily and illuminate the room - the pool table, snowshoes on the wall and the rowing machine, the armchair in which Henry sat, motionless, a glass in his hand and the cigarette burning low between his fingers. For a moment his face, pale and watchful as a ghost's, would be caught in the headlights and then, very gradually, it would slide back into the dark.
This evocative passage from Donna Tartt's The Secret History portrays a moment that is charged with mood and introspection. The scene captures an interplay between light and darkness, both literal and metaphorical, highlighting a fleeting glimpse into Henry's psyche. The rain-soaked night, punctuated by the transient glare of car headlights, creates a cinematic, almost haunting atmosphere. Henry, motionless and absorbed in a quiet, perhaps troubled contemplation, becomes the focal point amid...
