A dazzlingly eerie and bewitching novel. As the sun starts slowly disappearing, the residents of a remote town in the desert find themselves undergoing shocking transformations.

In Five Poems Lake, a small town surrounded by impenetrable deserts, a young woman tends her family’s pharmacy of traditional medicine. Ever since the mysterious death of her father twelve years ago, her last living relative is her older sister Dong Ji, who works at a wellness parlour for those who can afford it – which, during these strange and difficult days, is not many.

Five Poems Lake fell on hard times long before the sun began to shrink, but now, every few days, a new sliver disappears. As the temperature drops and the lake freezes over, the inhabitants of the town realize that there is no way they can survive. But when the Beacons appear – ordinary people with heads replaced by searing, blinding light, like miniature suns – the residents wonder if they may hold the answer to their salvation, or if they are just another sign of impending ruin. Soon, Dong Ji and her sister will uncover a photograph offering a clue to the mystery of the Beacons, that may finally help them learn what happened to their father.

Sunbirth honours the unique relationship between sisters, their love for each other and their desire to be free. Richly surreal and anchored by searching curiosity and wisdom, it asks how much we can ever know about the deepest mysteries of the world.

PRAISE FOR AN YU
‘A supremely confident and gifted writer’ Katie Kitamura
‘Beautiful’ New Statesman
‘Profound’ Guardian
‘Seductive’ Daily Mail
‘Spellbinding’ New York Times
‘Steeped in atmosphere’ Mail on Sunday
‘Rich and wild... it gets under your skin’ Observer

An Yu