Diane Zinna's The All-Night Sun is one of the most haunting and beautifully written books I have ever read. And let me just put this out there: I will be buying this book because I need to have that cover in my book collection.

Lauren Cress teaches an international class at a small Catholic college outside Washington, DC. She is charismatic and well-liked by her students. But she is also deeply lonely and still grieving her parents' deaths from ten years before. Everything changes when Siri, a charming eighteen-year-old fresh from Sweden, enters her classroom. Lauren is immediately taken with her and forms a boundary-crossing friendship.

When Siri invites Lauren back home during the summer break for her Midsommar festival, the lines between teacher and student get even more blurred. She is drawn to Siri's brooding older brother, Magnus, and sees a new side to her friend: one that is self-centered, destructive, and cruel. But Lauren is desperate to hold on to the only friend she has. And when things take a dark turn on the last day of the trip, Lauren escapes home in a state even worse than when she left. And the cost of her actions may be too high to recover from.

I typically read books quickly, especially if they're quickly-paced thrillers. I've found that I don't need to dwell on the writing, especially if it's not that memorable. Some have even lent themselves to "the skim," because they're full of filler that adds nothing to the plot.

The All-Night Sun forced me to slow down. I read this over a couple weeks rather than days, because I was just so captivated by Zinna's writing. If the cover is art, then her prose is a masterpiece. It's a quiet sort of book that doesn't rely on plot explosions, and I found myself lingering on each sentence. The reader is immersed in the setting with her rich descriptions and eye for detail.

There is a note in Zinna's acknowledgments about books with unlikable characters, and I've seen reviews that make note of this as well. I think because Lauren and Siri...let's say, don't always act in the most mature ways. But I didn't find them unlikable and I think that's down to how Zinna has given them life. Lauren is achingly lonely and obviously depressed and it's clear Siri is suffering as well. It's no wonder these two women found each other, regardless of how ill-advised their relationship may be. And though I didn't always agree with how they behaved, I could understand their motivations. And that's really all I needed.

I really recommend this to everyone. Even if the premise doesn't sound like something that's right for you, Zinna's immersive writing is something you should experience.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me this copy to review. It was truly a privilege.
(I am adding this to my blog as of 4/30 and will attach a link on the page below)

Gorgeous exploration of grief and the choices we make in the midst of it. Partly based in a school setting, and partly based in Sweden during the Midsommar celebration. I found this story both hard to face and impossible to turn away from.