Jenni Fagan is a local Edinburgh author and her novels intrigued me, so I asked a friend to get me one for my birthday. The friend chose 'The Sunlight Pilgrims', published in 2016 and chronicling a catastrophe in 2020. Rather than a plague, though, it's a new ice age triggered by climate change disrupting the Gulf Stream. Given my love of snow and attachment to the stupid film The Day After Tomorrow, I adored the icy world Fagan evokes. It is both vivid and visceral, including some gorgeous arctic details of sundogs and icebergs. The plot and character focus suggest a 'cosy catastrophe' type of novel, although I'm not sure how apposite that term is anymore. We in the wealthy West are living in a cosy catastrophe world, worrying about how much longer the cosy part can last. Anyway, 'The Sunlight Pilgrims' is set in a caravan site in the Highlands of Scotland. A man named Dylan heads up there from London after the death of his mother and is drawn to his new neighbours, a woman named Constance and her teenage daughter Stella. Of the three, I found Stella the most interesting and appealing character. She is given plenty of space in the narrative; a good choice given that Dylan's attraction to Constance is pretty mundane. Stella is trans and her dysphoria is treated thoughtfully, as significant to her life but by no means her only trait.

As the winter gets colder, life in the caravan site becomes more dangerous. Yet this is not a survivalist story in tone; there isn't a consistent feeling of danger. Instead there is a sense of community, albeit not without disagreements and intolerance. I enjoyed details like a trip to IKEA for warmth and food, as well as the ingenious DIY required to keep caravans warm in an ice age. The focus remains upon on the emotional experience of Stella, Constance, and Dylan. They adapt to the extreme conditions, which seems more plausible now than it would have done had I read this before 2020. Being stuck indoors all the time as it is dangerous outside has become familiar. Dylan's discoveries about his family didn't have a great impact for me, though. He realises that he's related to Stella and her father, due to incest in his family tree. The shock of this seems minor compared with the apocalypse occurring at the same time. The dynamics between the three main characters were great, though, and the scattering of spooky moments well-judged. I enjoyed following daily life as the temperature dropped. The ending was, as so often in literary novels, fairly abrupt and inconclusive. The snowy imagery was wonderful, though, and I definitely want to read more of Fagan's work. ( )

Full review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2016/10/30/book-review-the-sunlight-pilgrims-by-jen...

I really liked this book. My only complaint was the ending left me with questions. ( )

“There are three suns in the sky and it is the last day of autumn—perhaps forever. Sun dogs. Phantom suns. Parhelia. They mark the arrival of the most extreme winter for 200 years. Roads jam with people trying to stock up on fuel, food, water. Some say it is the end of times. Polar caps are melting. Salinity in the ocean is at an all-time low. The North Atlantic Drift is slowing.” – Jenni Fagan, The Sunlight Pilgrims

Climate fiction set in the near future as the world experiences extreme cold caused by the follow-on effects of melting ice caps. Dylan, whose mother and grandmother have recently died, abandons London, and moves to a caravan in Clachan Fells in the Scottish Highlands. Constance and her twelve-year-old trans daughter, Stella, are living in the caravan (that appears to be a mobile home community). They befriend Dylan and he joins the small group struggling to survive the elements.

I found this book a creative take on apocalyptic fiction. The author beautifully describes the wintery landscape. I liked the quirky characters and non-traditional family. I appreciated the portrayal of the trans individual, conveying a sense of the loneliness, emotions, and bullying she experiences.

The author goes a bit overboard with the crude language. The reasons behind the increasing cold are not addressed in any depth. I am not sure what to think about the ending. I do not generally mind open endings, but the way I interpreted it was not particularly satisfying.
( )

An interesting book, not what I usually read, so I found it lacking in story, but the characters where quite interesting.

I did have to work quite hard to finish it, and then it just seemed to end. But I guess it is a snippet out of several lives, and nice conclusions dont happen in real life.

I found the winter setting to be well thought out in terms of the effects it would have and how communities would react to extreme cold. ( )