WINNER OF THE #MERKY BOOKS 2022 NEW WRITER'S PRIZE It's summer and a young man walks through
the gates of a luxurious mansion in the south of France. At the dinner table the Blakes are
waiting for him: Annie the family matriarch and world-famous singer her inscrutable husband
David and their children Dot aloof and rebellious Lily the man's carefree university friend
and their enigmatic older brother Felix. Between sun-drenched days spent lounging by the pool
and nights blurring into endless opulent parties far from the reality of life in London a
restless attraction grows between Felix and the man. The possibility to be part of a family -
and an entire world - in which he doesn't belong is suddenly within reach. But the idyllic haze
of the summer slowly fades as they return to the city. While the man struggles with his
troubled past and the challenges of navigating Felix's world as a black working-class person
Felix is tormented by demons of his own. As their lives spiral out of control the couple's
bond will not only be tested but pulled apart at the seams altering the course of their lives
and the future of those around them. Sunstruck is a dazzling and poignant exploration of race
status and the parts of ourselves we risk losing when we fall in love.
