Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she is to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace. Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single- handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she

The first night lengthens into weeks as Sally starts to find pleasure in working with the bees, feeding the chickens, and harvesting potatoes. Eventually an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts through their shared work on the land.

About the author

Ewald Arenz was born in Nurnberg in 1965, where he now teaches. He has won various national and regional awards for literature; among them the Bavarian State Prize for Literature and the great Nuremberg Prize for Literature. One of seven children, he enjoys nature, woodturning, biking, swimming, and drinking tea. He lives with his family in Germany.

#TastingSunlight #JubilantJune @EwaldArenz

Review

Wow just wow. This is seriously a stunningly beautiful book. Every so often a book will come along that blows me away with its ability to transport me into another world. This is one of them. I fully admit that I am a damaged human and therefore this tale completely and utterly resonated with me. Sometimes like Sally, all I crave is silence. Thankfully, I have a beautiful husband who gets this.

Sally and Liss are characters that I will remember for a long time. Both are damaged in different ways, for different reasons but they see each other in their reflections. My heart ached for both of them. Sometimes I find reviews hard to write as I can't find the words to express my joy in a book and this is happening here. I had such a visceral reaction to this story, maybe it is because I want that healing experience for myself or it is because this book had me stunned in places with its ability to hit you with such simple sentences. Or it is just that this book stands as being a literary triumph? Maybe it's a combination of everything. At times I wonder if I am too personal in my reviews but then I realise that if an author has managed to move me then I need to shout out about it!

Arenz has a talent, an undeniable one. He has a magical way with words and kudos to Rachel Ward, the translator for letting his voice ring true. He has this innate ability to use simple language that expresses so vastly the beauty of friendship and nature. I felt as if I was able to walk around the farm and trail my hands through the leaves of the orchard. It evokes images of a life I would love to embrace. Nature does have the ability to heal. Before my dad passed away he moved to a place in the country in the south of Scotland, miles away from everywhere. It was the most time I had spent with him in years as he needed to shield and I stayed with him. But it allowed me to heal in a way I didn't know I needed. There was a field overlooking a small burn, a huge tree and swifts flying in and out of their nests deep within the eaves. It was the peace and the feeling of the sun on your skin, being hidden away from the panic the world was going through. We didn't talk a lot. We weren't that type of people. But the silence was more than enough. Six weeks into it my dad went ‘this isn't so bad is it?’. The next week he died. But that one sentence is more than enough.