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A Novel
A forbidden love blows open the world of a teenage girl, altering the trajectory of her life – from the author of the New York Times bestseller The Chaperone.
It's 1949, early in the Cold War, but St. Petersburg, Florida, is warm and lush. For seventeen-year-old Nora, it's paradise, especially after she meets and wins over Leonard, the shy, brilliant son of transplanted New Yorkers. Nora and Leonard are soon spending balmy days and evenings together, and in her adoring company, he grows more confident, even as he remains tender and caring. Leonard's mother is welcoming, but his father is more suspicious of Nora and her lower class family. When forced to cut contact, Nora takes a chance that changes her life: exiling her from the family she loves, and setting off a chain of secrets and betrayals that will follow her into adulthood.
A layered and propulsive love story set in the past, but with much to say about our present, Sunlight Finds You is ultimately about extending forgiveness—for ourselves, and for others—and about refusing to settle for a life that is less than full.
"Moriarty has an unusual gift for voice, a spark that can turn a novel about ordinary events into something compelling…A rich, rewarding slice of history that should remind us how important it is for women to have choices of all kinds." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"After a shocking revelation, the third act barrels toward a conclusion that is by turns heartbreaking and heartwarming. Readers will fall for the delightful and well-rounded Nora and Leonard as much as they do for each other." —Publishers Weekly
"A poignant story...about desperate choices, secrets, shame, and the assumptions we make when we can't or won't communicate." —Booklist
"I can't remember the last time I rooted for a character the way I did for Nora in Sunlight Finds You. In an era of rampant sexism, war, and lies, she learns to listen for her own steady voice and follow it. Melodic and daring, this isn't just a good book--it's a cancel-your-plans, hold-your-breath, call-your-best-friend kind of book. An absolutely unmissable triumph." —Amy Jo Burns, author of Mercury
"Sunlight Finds You illuminates the beguiling power of first love through characters whose teenage choices precipitate lifelong consequences. The story left me breathless with a desire to see these young lovers find a happy ending, while also raising poignant questions about the stigmas dividing families to this day. Laura is one of my must-read authors. Sunlight Finds You proves why she should be yours, too." —Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of Marilla of Green Gables
This information about Sunlight Finds You was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Laura Moriarty was born in Honolulu in 1979. She earned a degree is social work before returning for her M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She currently lives with her daughter in Lawrence, Kansas, and is at work on her next novel.
Bibliography
The Center of Everything, 2003
The Rest of Her Life, 2007
While I'm Falling (2009)
The Chaperone (2012)
American Heart (2018)
While I'm Falling, 2009
The Chaperone, 2012
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