I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for the stunning Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz with translation by Rachel Ward. Thank you to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this moving book.
About the book:
Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she is being 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…
About the author:
Ewald Arenz is a German best selling author of a wide range of novels, short stories, musicals, and plays. He has been awarded various national and international prizes for literature; among them the Bavarian Prize for Literature or the Naples Literary Award. His novels “Tasting Sunlight” and “The Grand Summer” have sold over half a million copies in the German edition and stayed within the first ten on the SPIEGEL bestseller list for more than two years.
In England he publishes with Orenda Books.
He has three children, is a cat-lover and lives in Franconia near Nuremberg.
Tasting Sunlight is translated by Rachel Ward.
My Review:
Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz is a hauntingly beautiful book that I know will stay with me always. Beautifully written, it is a gently paced but compelling character driven story that is unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
On the surface Tasting Sunlight is the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between two very different women. Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic and is desperate to be left to live her life in peace. Liss is older, living alone on a farm with very little contact with the outside world. Then a chance meeting leads to Liss offering Sally a bed for the night.
One night turns into weeks and then months as the two women find themselves forming an unlikely friendship, beginning to open up to each other as they start to confront the ghosts of their different but equally troubled past lives…
Tasting Sunlight is so much more than what it appears to be on the surface. Yes, it is a story of friendship, love and healing, but it is also a book that burrows its way under your skin, making you feel things you never would have expected it to when you started it.
Tasting Sunlight is far from an easy book to review. Superbly translated by Rachel Ward, my emotions were all over the place as the story unfolded. Touching on the difficult subjects of mental health, eating disorders and abuse, the author tackles these with a deep empathy and understanding as the two women slowly begin to come to terms with the darkness of their past lives, forming a bond that took them both completely by surprise.
Ewald Arenz’s writing is stunning, bringing Sally and Liss vividly to life as their stories begin to be revealed, with moments that are as shocking as they are moving. Tasting Sunlight is breathtaking in its simplicity, the remote setting drawing you into a gentle but thought provoking tale that will stay with you long after the final page has been turned.
I honestly can’t praise this beautifully written, moving and atmospheric book highly enough. Tasting Sunlight is a highly emotive read that stole my heart and is one that will stay with me always.
Highly recommended.
Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz is available to purchase now:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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