Sunshine Days

Author's name: Miral Al-Tahawy

The novel "Days of Sunshine" begins with the suicide of Jamal, a young man with a torn identity, and ends with the suicide of Mimi, an African girl who survived a racial massacre in her country. Between the first incident and the final scene, the novel takes place in a small, imaginary town called "Sunshine," located on the southwestern border of America, whose coasts witness daily trafficking of workers and illegal immigrants. The novel sheds light on a marginalized group that everyone believes, contrary to reality, is the survivor. It gives these marginalized people in Western society a voice and delves deeply into questions that concern them. "Days of Sunshine" is an ideal model of the maze of immigration, but it is, above all, a vision of the stranger who rebels against the new reality, yet finds a way to adapt to its cruelty.

The 2023 Booker Prize Longlist