cover image A Spanish Sunrise

A Spanish Sunrise

Boo Walker. Lake Union, $14.95 trade paper (398p) ISBN 978-1-5420-3792-1

Walker (The Singing Trees) dazzles in this heart-wrenching tale about a grieving father’s restorative trip to Spain with his daughter. Three years after Sofia, wife of musician turned builder Baxter Shaw, was killed in a mass shooting while running an errand for him, he’s still drowning in guilt and trying to do right by his adopted eight-year-old daughter, Mia. Then, after a DNA sample Sofia had submitted to 23 and Me results in a message from Ester Arroyo, who wonders if she’s Mia’s birth mother. Baxter, initially reluctant to take still-traumatized Mia to Spain after this new family is found, chooses to take a leap of faith and visit the Arroyos. There, Mia blossoms under the discovery and love of her new family—turns out Ester was right—and Baxter learns how to release the pain from his past and embrace the future. Transporting descriptions of Ester’s farm bring the setting to life, the characters all earn the reader’s emotional investment, and the pacing is perfect. Readers will fall in love. (Aug.)