The Clarion

Nina Dunic

Invisible Publishing

Synopsis

“We all lined up for our whipping by the shouting beauty and tender traumas of life. All of us so sensitive, and now this beautiful girl, with soft brown hair that was shot with gold in the sun. Another one of us starting to stumble.”

Peter plays the trumpet and works in a kitchen, partying; Stasi tries to climb the corporate ladder and lands in therapy. These sensitive siblings struggle to find their place in the world, seeking intimacy and belonging – or trying to escape it.

A promising audition, a lost promotion, intriguing strangers, a silent lover, and a grieving neighbour—in rich, sensual scenes and moody brilliance, The Clarion explores rituals of connection and belonging, themes of intimacy and performance, and how far we wander to find, or lose, our sense of self.

Alternating between five days in Peter’s life and several months of Stasi’s, Dunic’s debut novel captures the vague if hopeful melancholy of any generation that believes it was never “called” to something great.

About the Author

Nina Dunic's debut novel The Clarion won the 2024 Trillium Book Award, was longlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and received "Best of 2023" nods from The Globe and Mail, Apple Books and the CBC. She is a two-time winner of the Toronto Star Short Story Contest, has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize four times, won third place in the Humber Literary Review Emerging Writers Fiction Contest, and was nominated for The Journey Prize. She has a collection of stories due in 2025 with Invisible Publishing. Nina lives in Scarborough, in Toronto's east end.

Read more about Nina Dunic

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