Sunstruck

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Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE #MERKY BOOKS 2022 NEW WRITER'S PRIZE

It’s summer and a young man walks through the gates of a luxurious mansion in the south of France. At the dinner table, the Blakes are waiting for him: Annie, the family matriarch and world-famous singer, her inscrutable husband David and their children, Dot, aloof and rebellious, Lily, the man’s carefree university friend, and their enigmatic older brother Felix.
Between sun-drenched days spent lounging by the pool and nights blurring into endless, opulent parties far from the reality of life in London, a restless attraction grows between Felix and the man. The possibility to be part of a family – and an entire world – in which he doesn’t belong is suddenly within reach.
But the idyllic haze of the summer slowly fades as they return to the city. While the man struggles with his troubled past and the challenges of navigating Felix’s world as a black, working-class person, Felix is tormented by demons of his own. As their lives spiral out of control, the couple’s bond will not only be tested but pulled apart at the seams, altering the course of their lives and the future of those around them.
Sunstruck is a dazzling and poignant exploration of race, status and the parts of ourselves we risk losing when we fall in love.


© William Rayfet Hunter 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

This summer's hottest read
Sunday Times Style
Sticky and pacy with an undercurrent of unease, you won't want to put it down
British Vogue
Rich and complex
DAZED
A heartbreaking but necessary portrayal of identity and belonging in modern day Britain. It's the perfect beach read
Tatler
The book of the summer . . . a pacy page-turner and a timely piece of social commentary
AnOther Magazine
Richly evoked and quietly furious, building from its Saltburn-like beginnings into a roar about the state of modern Britain that never loses sight of the questions around family, friendship and belonging at its emotional core
Marie Claire
There’s plenty of plot; the novel’s brisk pacing, together with its shrewd blend of emotional sincerity, brooding intrigue and political overtones, make for a lively beach read
Guardian
[A] dark, intoxicating debut . . . A thoughtful meditation on class, race and queerness
Mail on Sunday
Sticky, twisting and dangerous: Sunstruck compels, unravelling the fraught strings that keep the elite class together and asking if an outsider can ever truly belong in their fold
Rebecca K Reilly
Hunter's debut skilfully follows the journey of an aspiring Black musician drawn into a world of privilege and excess. Beautifully written and well-paced . . . builds tension as it approaches an exciting revelation
Jacqueline Crooks

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