sun country
Published by Bloomsbury on June 4th, 2026
‘One of Britain’s most distinctive and trustworthy voices. A beautiful book.’
Tim Winton
‘Tender and unflinching, vulnerable and wise, intimate and boundless. A masterclass in clarity and feeling.’
Jim Crace
‘A memory quest that travels bravely, swims deep, hangs out, scavenges. Floats free, with tide and against. And brings the bounty home. To the heart.’
Iain Sinclair
‘A book to lose yourself inside, and emerge from with enhanced clarity and wisdom.’
Frances Wilson
‘A beautiful, bittersweet book.’
Sara Baume
‘A beautiful story of a soul’s growth. Unputdownable.’
Chris Salewicz
‘Beautiful, rigorous work.’
Kerry Andrew
A beautifully written and deeply moving journey from sorrow to acceptance, from loss to hope, shimmering with coastal light and hard-won wisdom.
In Sun Country, Howard Cunnell returns to the southern England beachlands of his boyhood after the death of his mother.
A love letter to the changing coast and sea, Sun Country is a reckoning with the things we inherit, silence and absence, stories told and untold and the transgression involved in turning a life into art.
At the heart of the book is Gillian, Cunnell's devoted single mother, and the small yet unforgettable details of her life that are woven into a powerful meditation on impermanence, art, class and home.
Writing his way home to a place, to a culture and to himself as an artist, Cunnell's descriptive power reaches a new breathtaking level, with the simplicity that only comes from the finest craft and poetry.
Publicity enquries please contact: jonny.coward@bloomsbury.com
