COVER REVEAL: TASTING SUNLIGHT BY EWALD ARENZ trs Rachel Ward @EwaldArenz @FwdTranslations @OrendaBooks

One of the reasons I love Orenda Books is because they bring us the best literary fiction from across the globe. Tasting Sunlight is from Germany and is a case exactly on point. I am more than ready for the joy of discovering an author who, in the words of his agent, ‘can bring the smell of summer to you at any time of year’.

‘Tasting Sunlight is Ewald Arenz’ debut novel and it is sitting in the top ten best sellers list in Germany with 385,000 copies sold. Karen Sullivan, publisher of Orenda Books says that it is ‘a magical book, mysterious, simply written yet
beautifully complex – a book that feels so right for current times, with
meaningful themes of friendship across generations, of connection between
people and with nature, of healing and hope. ‘

“I first heard about this book at the last physical Frankfurt”, she says, “and I have been unable to get it out of mind – even more so during lockdown and our enforced isolation.”

Tasting Sunlight is the story of an unusual friendship that develops between
two very different women.

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace.

Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.

That night becomes weeks and then months, as an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts through their shared work on the land. Achingly beautiful, profound, invigorating and uplifting, Tasting Sunlight is a story of friendship across generations, of love and acceptance, of the power of nature to heal and transform, and the goodness that surrounds us, if only we take time to see it…

This all sounds so fabulous. Don’t you think so? I really, really need to read this book!

TASTING SUNLIGHT will be published in ebook, audio and print on June 23rd 2022

All the usual pre-order links should be available shortly, but here’s the one from Amazon Tasting Sunlight