Sunbirth

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Since her father’s death twelve years previously, our unnamed narrator, a pharmacist, has been living with her older sister Dong Ji in Five Poems Lake on the edge of the desert. The sun over their isolated town has begun to disappear in crescents, like a gibbous moon. These increments are reported on the evening news, while the temperature drops, the lake freezes over, and the trees start to die. One night, as the narrator returns from visiting a friend in hospital, she is accosted by a man who tries to assault her – but who transforms before her eyes into a Beacon, with a searing, blinding light where his head used to be. A few nights later more Beacons are caught on film. Where do they come from? What has caused them? Do they have something to do with the vanishing of the sun? An Yu explores questions of mortality, desire and longing in this hugely atmospheric and beautiful novel, while diving deep into the relationship between the two sisters – their love for each other, the weight of responsibility and dependency, and their desire to be free.

© An Yu 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025