“Nina has never fled anything the way she flees this. She is simply gone, the way wind is gone, or sound.”
What to say in a review of Téa Obreht’s Sunrise (Random House 2026)? The writing is simply delicious, and I was positively smitten with the setup. I love alternating timelines and POVs; it’s part of why I love family sagas. This is a geographical saga – three timelines, one town with a lot of secrets – color me sold.
In 2024, Nina finds herself in the ghost town of Sunrise after the small aircraft she was in with her boyfriend, Ben, crashes. Nina had jumped from the craft into the lake. Assuming Ben has died in the crash, she is simply trying to survive. She has a few secrets of her own, buried trauma she doesn’t want to voice, that she can’t keep hidden even in a ghost town.
In 2003, Colin Yard is working hard to establish Sunrise as a tourist destination, with the story of Anton Vargas at the heart of his work. He meets with a young author who has uncovered some information that would completely unravel the work he’s done and the history he’s built. Meanwhile, there’s a nasty situation with a wolf and Yard’s questionable involvement that could ruin his reputation. There are a few skeletons in this closet.
In 1902, former gunslinger and dime novel hero Anton Vargas has returned to Sunrise to seek forgiveness and to die. It’s his story and his secrets that come to light in a deserted town called Sunrise.
The way these three stories work together is fascinating, and each section is so different. I loved this novel so much, but I hated the last thirteen pages enough to make this less than a four-star read for me.
