The Sunrise: A Novel

Summer 1972—Famagusta is Cyprus’s most glamorous city and the most desirable tourist destination in the Mediterranean, and the Papacostas are right at the center of it. Aphroditi and her husband Savvas own The Sunrise, a wildly successful new luxury hotel. Frequented by only the very wealthiest of Europe’s elite, The Sunrise—especially its alluring nightclub—quickly becomes the place to see and be seen. Yet beneath the veneer of tranquil opulence simmers mounting hostility between the Greeks and the Turks. Years of unrest and ethnic violence come to a head when, in 1974, Greece’s coup d’état provokes a Turkish attack on beautiful Famagusta.

The fallout sends the island’s inhabitants spiraling into fear and chaos, and the Papacostas join an exodus of people who must abandon their idyllic lives in Famagusta and flee to refugee camps. In the end, only two families remain in the decimated city: the Özkans and the Georgious. One is Turkish Cypriot, the other Greek Cypriot and the tension between them is palpable. But with resources scarce and the Turkish militia looming large, both families must take shelter in the deserted hotel as they battle illness, hunger, fear, and their own prejudices while struggling to stay alive.

Juxtaposing a powerful narrative of war against the glittering affluence of the 1970s Mediterranean coast, The Sunrise is a moving story about the measures we take to protect what we love.