The Sunshine Man

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What to expect

Gripping and emotional, The Sunshine Man is a powerful story of a terrible crime and the revenge plotted over decades, set against the haunting beauty of rural Devon.

From the bestselling author of The Lamplighters, Emma Stonex.

'Luminously unsettling' - The Observer
'A deeply thrilling and emotionally rich page-turner' - Lucy Clarke
'A wholly original and immersive thriller' - Harriet Evans

One cold winter's morning, Birdie wakes to the news she’s been waiting eighteen years to hear: Jimmy Maguire - the man who murdered her sister - is out of prison.

She sends her children to school, finds the gun she's kept hidden all this time, and leaves for London, determined to find Jimmy and make him pay. But there’s another side to this story and nothing is at it seems. Birdie is about to enter a world of family secrets, worn-out loyalties and long-buried betrayals.

Readers LOVE The Sunshine Man:
'A compelling tight thriller with heart' *****
'Hits you right between the eyes' *****
'Brilliantly written with twists and turns' *****

Critics Review

A remarkable novel - heart-wrenching, unflinching and deeply compassionate . . . thrilling, and incredibly moving. If you loved The Lamplighters, I guarantee you’ll love The Sunshine Man too
Emylia Hall, author of The Shell House Detectives
Masterful. Not only suspenseful and exquisitely tense but a nuanced, humanely observed portrait of grief and trauma. A triumph
Jo Harkin, author of The Pretender
The Sunshine Man is a masterful literary thriller . . . A deeply thrilling and emotionally rich page-turner. One of my books of the year
Lucy Clarke, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Castaways and One of the Girls
A brilliantly accomplished story of fractured lives and the long-term reverberations of violent crime, The Sunshine Man is both poetic and fiendishly gripping. Stonex's prose is bruising and beautiful
Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call
Spellbinding and beautifully written, The Sunshine Man transcends genre. It’s an unbearably tense thriller and a nuanced examination of fractured lives, grief and trauma. Told in glittering and poetic prose with an impeccable sense of place, this is a granular exploration of big questions – revenge, love and redemption. I –––ing loved it!
Nikki May, author of Wahala and This Motherless Land
A compelling and masterful thriller - with a loaded gun, a car chase and a woman set on revenge - and a compassionate tale of grief, resilience, love and absolution
Susan Fletcher, author of The Night in Question
This dark, compelling novel of trauma, revenge and damaged lives really got under my skin . . . The prose shines with beauty, the characters are vividly drawn and the plot hurtles headlong towards its unforgettable ending
Lucy Diamond, author of I Remember Paris
Gripping, heartbreaking, and one of the most psychologically complex thrillers I've ever read
Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Woman
Emma Stonex returns with a dark, powerful page-turner - a story full of pain and loneliness but also love and redemption. A very sophisticated and moving psychological thriller
Emily Koch, author of If I Die Before I Wake
Some books grab you by the throat, others by the heart. The Sunshine Man seizes both then refuses to let go. Threaded through with a deep, unfurling sense of dread, yet dazzling in its tenderness and heart, this compelling literary thriller cements Emma Stonex's place as one of our brightest literary talents. A masterful achievement
Hannah Richell, author of The Search Party
Full of driving tension and rising dread, The Sunshine Man is compelling, moving and totally original. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.
Kate Riordan, author of The Heat Wave
Imaginative, tender and compelling, Emma Stonex's writing glows from the page. A charged and unforgettable story
A.J. West, author of The Betrayal of Thomas True
A wholly original immersive thriller with love and family at its heart, and just exquisite writing
Harriet Evans, author of The Beloved Girls
A novel that stays with you long after reading, The Sunshine Man is a worthy successor to the excellent The Lamplighters . . . a compelling, tight thriller with heart
Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface
The most moving literary thriller . . . a tense, taut masterpiece
Georgina Moore, author of River of Stars
A novel that is tender, and wild, with characters that will move and surprise. This is a book about revenge, but it runs so much deeper - Stonex explores the complexities of the human heart and mind with compassion and empathy. It will stay with me for a long time
L. V. Matthews, author of The Twins
Stonex is out to stir the reader's social conscience as well as set pulses racing . . . [a] twisty thriller . . . luminously unsettling
The Observer
An ambitious revenge thriller that takes the reader on a journey from London to Devon . . . what makes this thought-provoking book well worth the read is the delicate and perceptive chronicling of how good intentions, childhood misunderstandings, throwaway comments and split-second decisions can pave the way for disaster.
The Guardian

User Reviews

Book 4.0
Narration 5.0
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5.0
Very enjoyable. Predictably, I didn't guess what was going on until the authors reveal!
ClareR 20/05/2025

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