A forbidden love blows open the world of a teenage girl, altering the trajectory of her life – from the author of the New York Times bestseller The Chaperone

It’s 1949, early in the Cold War, but St. Petersburg, Florida is warm, lush, and booming with newcomers seeking sunshine and opportunity. For seventeen-year-old Nora, St. Pete feels like paradise, especially after she meets and wins over Leonard, the shy, brilliant son of transplanted New Yorkers. Nora and Leonard are soon spending balmy days and evenings together, and in her adoring, encouraging company, he grows more confident, even as he remains tender and caring. Leonard’s sophisticated mother welcomes Nora into their lives, but his father distrusts her motives.

When his suspicions are seemingly confirmed, Nora is forced to cut contact. In her longing and fear, she takes a chance that changes her life, exiling her from the family she loves and setting off a chain of secrets and betrayals that will follow her into adulthood. It is a mature Nora who tells the story of her turbulent past. Wiser and more worldly, she commits to an honest but compassionate account, and to a future based on trusting, first and foremost, herself.

Sunlight Finds You is, ultimately, a love story set in the past that has much to say about our present. Richly layered and propulsive, it’s a book about extending forgiveness—for ourselves, and for others—and about refusing to settle for a life that is less than full.

This book wasn’t at all on my radar until I saw Jenna pick it for her book club. The synopsis intrigued me and I was in the mood for a good historical drama. I’m happy to say I really enjoyed it.

The story opens in 1949. Seventeen year old Nora falls for Leonard, the quiet, brilliant son of a wealthy family that recently relocated from New York. The two of them start spending all their time together, and under Nora’s encouragement, Leonard slowly opens up and grows more confident. Leonard’s mother takes a liking to Nora right away, but his father is suspicious of her from the start, convinced she’s after their money. When Nora and Leonard are caught in a compromising position by his parents, they’re torn apart and Nora promises Leonard’s mother that she’ll never see him again. But that’s easier said than done. When Leonard leaves for the military and calls Nora to tell her he’s coming home for a visit before going overseas and he’d like to see her, Nora can’t help but say yes. This act of defiance ends up setting off a long chain of events that follows her well into adulthood and shape the woman she becomes.

What stood out most to me about this book was the theme of lying, and how a lie can sometimes come from a place of trying to protect someone while also being the exact thing that tears people apart. I was completely absorbed in these characters’ lives from start to finish, and that includes the smaller side characters too. Every time I put the book down, I found myself wanting to get right back to it and see what happened next.

If I have one real complaint (and honestly calling it a complaint feels a little strong) it’s that the final section of the book felt rushed compared to everything before it. The book is split into four distinct parts, and the last one wrapped everything up a bit too neatly and a bit too quickly for my taste. I understood what the author was going for tonally, but I think the story would have benefited from sitting with some of those final moments a little longer, or even leaving a few threads more open ended instead of tying everything into a bow so fast.

Even with that one (very tiny) hiccup, this is a beautifully written novel with characters I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon. If you love character driven historical fiction that explores how a single event and a seemingly harmless lie can ripple outward for decades, this one is absolutely worth picking up.

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