What do you think?
Suddenly Light
An Apple Books Best Book of 2025
Among the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction of 2025
A Necessary Fiction Best Book of 2025
“These stories give literary realism a good name.”—Kirkus Reviews
Fifteen stories replete with an intimate, nuanced, and quietly profound realism by the Trillium Book Award–winning author of The Clarion
With crisp and penetrating prose, the stories in Suddenly Light are bracing, buoyant, and test the delicate threads that tie us together.
Among the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction of 2025
A Necessary Fiction Best Book of 2025
“These stories give literary realism a good name.”—Kirkus Reviews
Fifteen stories replete with an intimate, nuanced, and quietly profound realism by the Trillium Book Award–winning author of The Clarion
With crisp and penetrating prose, the stories in Suddenly Light are bracing, buoyant, and test the delicate threads that tie us together.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 25, 2026
Longlisted for the 2026 Carol Shields Prize in Fiction
She wasn’t real. I knew that. It wasn’t about whether or not her eyes were that colour, whether they sprayed the bronze on her skin or lacquered it with a computer program. It was how alien it made me feel. Too far from everything else in the world. It wasn’t anything else but that.
/////// oh, this short story collection… so quiet but moving & honest & real!! might be tied for number one for me of this longlist. (been taking my time to finish this & my last book of this longlist, just basking in the experience & grateful for the whole longlist & such gems!!)
2026 Carol Shields Prize
shortlisted books are numbered!
1. The White Hot, Quiara Alegría Hudes (5⭐️)
—Suddenly Light, Nina Dunic (5⭐️)
—milktooth, Jaime Burnet (5⭐️)
2. Lion, Sonya Walger (5⭐️)
—Audition, Katie Kitamur
3. Cannon, Lee Lai
—The Sea Gives Up the Dead, Molly Olguin
—Wild Life, Amanda Leduc
—Sea, Poison, Caren Beilin
—Casualties of Truth, Lauren Francis-Sharma
—The Morgue Keeper, Ruyan Meng
4. A Guardian & a Thief, Megha Majumdar
5. Hellions, Julia Elliott
—Canticle, Janet Rich Edwards
—The Edge of Water, Olufunke Grace Bankole
[15/15 & completed!]
She wasn’t real. I knew that. It wasn’t about whether or not her eyes were that colour, whether they sprayed the bronze on her skin or lacquered it with a computer program. It was how alien it made me feel. Too far from everything else in the world. It wasn’t anything else but that.
/////// oh, this short story collection… so quiet but moving & honest & real!! might be tied for number one for me of this longlist. (been taking my time to finish this & my last book of this longlist, just basking in the experience & grateful for the whole longlist & such gems!!)
2026 Carol Shields Prize
shortlisted books are numbered!
1. The White Hot, Quiara Alegría Hudes (5⭐️)
—Suddenly Light, Nina Dunic (5⭐️)
—milktooth, Jaime Burnet (5⭐️)
2. Lion, Sonya Walger (5⭐️)
—Audition, Katie Kitamur
3. Cannon, Lee Lai
—The Sea Gives Up the Dead, Molly Olguin
—Wild Life, Amanda Leduc
—Sea, Poison, Caren Beilin
—Casualties of Truth, Lauren Francis-Sharma
—The Morgue Keeper, Ruyan Meng
4. A Guardian & a Thief, Megha Majumdar
5. Hellions, Julia Elliott
—Canticle, Janet Rich Edwards
—The Edge of Water, Olufunke Grace Bankole
[15/15 & completed!]
June 28, 2026
A high 4. But I want to support this books rating cuz the author seems really cool!
Probably one of my favourite short story collections of all time. And I usually don’t care for them! I feel like this book should be called Torontonians for how similar in construction it feels to Joyce’s Dubliners hehe (yes I feel well read for referencing Joyce).
Dunic writes from multiple perspectives as if she has lived 100 lives. Characters are convincingly boring, curious, and grieving. While little happens in each story, the action is substituted with cutting realizations, and observations that blow you away. Each character seems to carry unique wisdom that avoids repetition and makes each story exciting to start.
The two things I will say is that, and ik this is silly but I’d have liked the SHORT stories to be longer. They cut off right when ideas start having the potential to be developed. As well, it would have been interesting to see how different character’s personality would influence the actual narration. The latter half starts blending in together save for some special ones.
Anyways not much to say about this book. Do not ask me why I liked it so much! It just made me feel all sensitive, represented, and complex. ABC books offered this book randomly and I bought it after reading the first paragraph.
Probably one of my favourite short story collections of all time. And I usually don’t care for them! I feel like this book should be called Torontonians for how similar in construction it feels to Joyce’s Dubliners hehe (yes I feel well read for referencing Joyce).
Dunic writes from multiple perspectives as if she has lived 100 lives. Characters are convincingly boring, curious, and grieving. While little happens in each story, the action is substituted with cutting realizations, and observations that blow you away. Each character seems to carry unique wisdom that avoids repetition and makes each story exciting to start.
The two things I will say is that, and ik this is silly but I’d have liked the SHORT stories to be longer. They cut off right when ideas start having the potential to be developed. As well, it would have been interesting to see how different character’s personality would influence the actual narration. The latter half starts blending in together save for some special ones.
Anyways not much to say about this book. Do not ask me why I liked it so much! It just made me feel all sensitive, represented, and complex. ABC books offered this book randomly and I bought it after reading the first paragraph.
March 21, 2026
Loved the intensity!!
November 2, 2025
Suddenly Light by Nina Dunic
"Adam was disgusted with that. But apparently that was the way the world worked. Lots of things weren't pleasant but if you saw enough people doing it, you learned to ignore it."
or...
"He was ordinary and --- its primary characteristic -- did not know it."
"Adam was disgusted with that. But apparently that was the way the world worked. Lots of things weren't pleasant but if you saw enough people doing it, you learned to ignore it."
or...
"He was ordinary and --- its primary characteristic -- did not know it."
December 29, 2025
Impressive. Fresh. Unique. We love a Toronto writer over here and this is a bit cold but bold and a little prickly. I’m here for it.
My favourite stories were: The Dog, Youth and Runners which were fantastic! Kin was another top tier story.
Some of my favourite quotes:
She also casually references Uzi in her storytelling like Nina Dunic, the things you will do!!! I can’t wait to read what’s next!
My favourite stories were: The Dog, Youth and Runners which were fantastic! Kin was another top tier story.
Some of my favourite quotes:
”Love: the end of a heartbreaking fight for some kind of understanding between strangers. Strangers with an abnormal capacity for hurting each other, all of the unspoken fear around it. Young lovers were so careless and terrified of each other, always, and perhaps that made it exhilarating—but love was the ceasefire.” 83%, from the story: Youth, Nina Dunic
“Pity destroys the proud. It was cloying, and ruthless.” - 22%, from the story Awake, Nina Dunic
“It is odd what can come out of slowness, looking around, thinking about what to think about.” 19%, from the story Awake, Nina Dunic
“The gym was owned by an overweight white guy who dressed poorly and often seemed distressed about some issue or another. He was on the phone a lot. I think his parents had a car business just outside the city, so he was a vaguely rich kid—later they gave him money to buy a business, so he bought a gym. A manager had told me all that. The owner’s appearance made it clear he had no interest in health or fitness—I hoped he didn’t have cameras in the change rooms, because it seemed possible he was that kind of guy.” 13%, from the story Falls, Nina Dunic
She also casually references Uzi in her storytelling like Nina Dunic, the things you will do!!! I can’t wait to read what’s next!
October 3, 2025
Now this felt refreshing: a series of stories that are both melancholy yet have a sharp dark edge. Combined with some interesting and ambiguous conclusions, this collection is easily one of the better fiction reads I've had in the last few months.
December 3, 2025
Wow. Just wow. These stories were just incredible.
On page 4, she writes "His clothes often smelled vaguely of cumin, coriander, a tickle of pepper." And I was hooked.
Each story had me intrigued. These characters all so different, yet somehow so similar. Funny. Sad. Each in their own way so human.
A lovely book, filled with lovely stories. I'm so happy I read this.
On page 4, she writes "His clothes often smelled vaguely of cumin, coriander, a tickle of pepper." And I was hooked.
Each story had me intrigued. These characters all so different, yet somehow so similar. Funny. Sad. Each in their own way so human.
A lovely book, filled with lovely stories. I'm so happy I read this.
May 8, 2026
I read this compelling collection slowly, savoring stories of deep interiority and underlining precisely right sentences throughout the book. Many of Dunic’s characters hold themselves apart, unwilling or unable to join in the ceaseless flow of activity around them.
The purchase of a contested overpriced painting marks the moment a couple’s marriage begins to unravel. At a dinner party, a woman realizes that she and her husband have a fundamentally different orientation to life: “He wasn’t going to wander or forget himself or suffer without knowing why, wasn’t going to ask why, probably ever.” Voyeurism features in several stories, always with an empathetic attempt to construct or inhabit the observed person’s life. In “Bodies,” a young man sees his mother in a new light after her uncharitable reaction to the death of a neighbourhood man, whom she dismisses as an addict and therefore unworthy of consideration.
Suddenly Light, which was longlisted for the 2026 Carol Shields Prize, reveals the depth of human connections, real and imagined.
The purchase of a contested overpriced painting marks the moment a couple’s marriage begins to unravel. At a dinner party, a woman realizes that she and her husband have a fundamentally different orientation to life: “He wasn’t going to wander or forget himself or suffer without knowing why, wasn’t going to ask why, probably ever.” Voyeurism features in several stories, always with an empathetic attempt to construct or inhabit the observed person’s life. In “Bodies,” a young man sees his mother in a new light after her uncharitable reaction to the death of a neighbourhood man, whom she dismisses as an addict and therefore unworthy of consideration.
Suddenly Light, which was longlisted for the 2026 Carol Shields Prize, reveals the depth of human connections, real and imagined.
February 14, 2026
This quick read collection of short stories by Canadian author Nina Dunic subtly spins a wide range of impactful tales.
A teacher who cautions his young students about the repercussions of taking a food dare by doing exactly that and paying a sickly price.
A drunk artist who falls from grace in the presence of a fan with a life-altering question.
A simply sad reason why an elderly woman hands out colourful balloons to children from her wheelchair.
A domesticated dog with the irrepressible heart of a stray.
Samples from a good read of 15 stories not easily forgotten.
A teacher who cautions his young students about the repercussions of taking a food dare by doing exactly that and paying a sickly price.
A drunk artist who falls from grace in the presence of a fan with a life-altering question.
A simply sad reason why an elderly woman hands out colourful balloons to children from her wheelchair.
A domesticated dog with the irrepressible heart of a stray.
Samples from a good read of 15 stories not easily forgotten.
March 21, 2026
Snap shots of life and all those mundane quiet things that are universal but not really acknowledged or talked about enough
December 13, 2025
Wonderful array of fictional short stories by Canadian author Nina Dunic. Refreshing read!
March 5, 2026
One of the best writers in Canada. Amazing short stories.
March 23, 2026
What a fantastic book showing glimpses of normal everyday nuances that deem to be important to talk about. Some of the best stories of come across and absolutely deserved to be a part of the Carol Shields longlist!
Favorites:
- Bodies
- The Apartment
- Divorce
- The Dog
- “ I Didn’t See Any Children With Balloons”
- Runners — LOVED the orange analogy
Favorites:
- Bodies
- The Apartment
- Divorce
- The Dog
- “ I Didn’t See Any Children With Balloons”
- Runners — LOVED the orange analogy
July 18, 2026
“But can you imagine the browned teeth and greasy dishes forgotten throughout the flat? The stained linens? Fine art. Yet all their work was beautiful, sometimes in odd or misleading ways . A chair sitting next to an open window - meaningless scenes made beloved because someone was willing to look for a long time.”
What a beautiful, heartbreaking, emotional, and poetic collection of stories about the fragility of life and living—the repetitiveness, strangeness, grandness, and mundaneness of it all. Each story offers its own peek into a life lived, its own decoding of what it means to truly live.
This book reminded me of that saying about us all being side characters in everyone else’s story. But the thing about side characters is that they still matter. They play a role. You notice when they’re missing.
I think this is the kind of book everyone will interpret differently.
To me, it felt like a reminder to appreciate the small things that make up a life. The things we so often take for granted. We have this one magnificent chance at living, and sometimes we let it quietly pass us by.
Through these stories, it was both beautiful and heartbreaking to witness so many different lives—the ones cut too short, the uncertainty, the hope, the despair. Nina Dunic captures it all so vividly and with such tenderness.
A well-deserved finalist for the 2026 Trillium Book Awards, and without a doubt one of my favourite books of the year so far.
What a beautiful, heartbreaking, emotional, and poetic collection of stories about the fragility of life and living—the repetitiveness, strangeness, grandness, and mundaneness of it all. Each story offers its own peek into a life lived, its own decoding of what it means to truly live.
This book reminded me of that saying about us all being side characters in everyone else’s story. But the thing about side characters is that they still matter. They play a role. You notice when they’re missing.
I think this is the kind of book everyone will interpret differently.
To me, it felt like a reminder to appreciate the small things that make up a life. The things we so often take for granted. We have this one magnificent chance at living, and sometimes we let it quietly pass us by.
Through these stories, it was both beautiful and heartbreaking to witness so many different lives—the ones cut too short, the uncertainty, the hope, the despair. Nina Dunic captures it all so vividly and with such tenderness.
A well-deserved finalist for the 2026 Trillium Book Awards, and without a doubt one of my favourite books of the year so far.
February 20, 2026
Thematically complex while telling great story after great story. I loved this collection.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews