Lunara peeks out coyly from the bushes, careful not to show too much of herself and upset a culture that has always had issues with what’s right and what’s wrong. She’s discovered that our world is so unsure of its own morality that we even distrust the skin we’re born into. But her innocence has far more to learn about the shadows all the rest of us live under. She has yet to discover that her nudity is only the tip of our struggle with the way she looks.
Lunara knows nothing about racial prejudice. In her innocence, she’s never encountered that moral absurdity. But she’s about to encounter it. And when she does, she might unsettle everyone’s comfortable assumptions, challenge people of all persuasions to examine their own reflexes . . . make them think more deeply and question what they take for granted.
Lunara is a woman who feels a deep and intimate sense of belonging with her people, with nature, and the land. But she doesn’t know that she and her fellow villagers have an unexpected skin color. Actually, their skin has no color at all. Consider how uncomfortable that would make people feel across a broad spectrum of society. Many might react instinctively without thinking. Here we have a Native people who have created a paradise on earth, but that unparalleled and almost saintly achievement might hardly register at all.
For many, it would be the color of Lunara’s skin that bothers them the most. They’ll forget the beauty of her soul. Forget the perfection of her culture. They’ll want to know what her altered skin color is supposed to mean. Lunara might even be surprised that her complexion could disturb people who have the best of intentions, who think themselves the least prejudiced of all. She can only hope that their fixation on the color of her skin over the purity of her heart might surprise them and make them think about their own complex relationship with the subject.
Lunara is blend of innocence and mysterious perception in a body no one will recognize. She is just one example of the many thought-provoking surprises to anticipate in Shadows From The Sun.