The Sunflower Boys

Wachman’s wrenching debut chronicles the Ukraine-Russia war from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy. Artem lives in Chernihiv, Ukraine, with his mother and younger brother, Yuri. The boys’ father, Tato, left eight years earlier for the U.S., where he works in construction. Artem barely remembers Tato in the flesh, but they speak on the phone and he thinks of his father regularly (“his absence sits on our couch”). Artem likes to draw and watch horror movies with his best friend, Viktor, for whom he recognizes a growing attraction (“I feel like bursting out of myself, the way that overripe tomatoes split when their insides become too much”). A far greater disruption occurs on February 24, 2022, when the Russians invade. The family are visiting Artem’s grandfather in the countryside, and the brothers hide in a trunk while the mother and grandfather are killed by soldiers. After the soldiers leave, Artem leads Yuri on a long, traumatizing walk home. He grapples with feeling “inadequate about protecting his brother,” especially when Yuri comes down with a fever. After they enter a shelter, they arrange to reunite with Tato, but escaping Ukraine for Romania, from where they plan to fly to the U.S., proves fraught. Wachman enriches the narrative with vivid images, such as the boys fleeing a barrage of rockets and bullets for a bus stop, where they encounter a corpse, and moving sentiments, as when Artem’s mother tells him, “This isn’t the future I wanted for you.” Though this striking novel can be painful, its rewards are extraordinary. Agent: Naomi Eisenbeiss, InkWell Management. (Aug.)