The Clarion

Longlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Globe and Mail 100 Best Book of 2023

CBC Books, Best Canadian Fiction 2023

Apple Books, Best Canadian Debut 2023 and Best Book of the Month for September 2023

“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.