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Under the Sun

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Under the Sun

By: Lottie Moggach
Narrated by: Kate Lock
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'Has all the hallmarks of a classic summer read' The Times

Anna’s friends and family think she is living the dream in her beautiful finca under the Spanish sun. But the reality is far from perfect. The handsome, complicated man she was building a life with has left with little more than a note to say goodbye and the future she imagined has crashed around her ears. Anna has secretly embarked on an ill-advised affair and lives above the dingy bar she runs in the sleepy beach town of Marea, surrounded by British expats as homesick and stuck as she is.

When Simon, a local businessman, offers to rent the finca, Anna hopes it will pave the way for her escape. But there is more to him than meets the eye, and when a body washes up on the beach in mysterious circumstances, Anna realizes she may be the only one with the power to unravel the truth. But how can she prove that Simon is connected, and how can she reclaim her house? Anna is prepared to risk everything to get home – even though she’s no longer sure where home really is.

Urgent, gripping and brilliantly observed, Under the Sun by Lottie Moggach is an exhilarating novel about heartbreak, identity, migration and finding a place to call home.

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Fiction Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

In her beautifully written novel, Lottie Moggach gives rare insights into human relationships and the appalling things we can do to each other. Subtle, insightful and utterly compelling (Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of SISTER)
Brilliantly atmospheric and creepy . . . I loved the heat of it, the writing, and the pulse of disappointment and hope. It's very, very clever (Sabine Durant, author of Lie With Me)
Under the Sun has all the hallmarks of a classic summer read . . . the pages fly by . . . Moggach’s readers will relish the sparkle of a perfect summer story that is intelligent, steamy and has great interiors
Gripping and intense, it’s a great read
A beautifully observed, enthralling read
A brilliantly atmospheric, claustrophobic look at heartbreak, identity and the notion of home.
A must-have summer accessory. The way Moggach shoes the extent to which the British expat dream lives cheek by jowl with a burgeoning migrant crisis makes this a superior thriller. Surely a contender for read of the summer. A lushly written novel that combines a smouldering plot with impressive nuance.
The scope of this is ambitious — what begins as a universal story about a love affair gone sour quickly becomes something much more political, a searching social commentary about displacement and institutional racism. Moggach’s setting, much like the work of Man Booker-nominated Deborah Levy, allows her to explore how behaviour can change abroad — in this case, how the British community views itself and others ... what, if anything, separates the definition of expats from that of immigrants ... A reminder that this is a true reflection of poverty in a post-recession world, of hopes dashed and borders tightened.
Moggach lets rip a tale that is gripping and conscientiously attuned to the queasy dynamic between expats and immigrants in a place where everyone is “learning to live somewhere between the life [they] wanted and the one [they] have.
An enjoyable, well-observed book, and Moggach’s description of a dying love affair is particularly effective.
Gripping, edge-of-your-deckchair stuff
A pertinent tale for our times . . . This is a book that keeps the reader, and the protagonist, guessing until the very end. (Emma Jane Unsworth)
The joy of this novel is in the description – from the accurate portrayal of the death throes of a relationship, to the drab reality of a dream gone sour. Compulsively readable.
Compulsively readable and brilliantly entertaining. (People)
An unnervingly brilliant success
A pageturner ... Lottie Moggach’s wry exploration of British expats on the Costa del Sol follows Anna, who has invested everything in her relationship with her boyfriend and their shared dream of restoring a finca. Needless to say, things quickly unravel. It’s enough to make you scurry back to Blighty.
All stars
Most relevant
Remind me not to listen to any other books narrated by Kate Loch. She talks like a primary school teacher with a class of 5 year olds. Then there's the main character. We are told she's almost 40 but she has the emotions and wisdom of an adolescent, and the rest of the individuals are so stereotyped that you'd need to be a moron to find any suspense in the "paint by numbers plot" routine.

Naive plot with fairy tale narration

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Agree with the previous reviewer. The narrator was awful, strange emphasis on words ,so off putting that it really spoilt the story and I just gave up half way through. Such a shame

Terrible narration

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