The Sunlight Pilgrims: Plot

The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan was published in 2016.

• The Sunlight Pilgrims takes place over five months, during the winter of an imagined 2020-2021, when the Earth’s temperature is progressively decreasing.
• Following family bereavement, Dylan MacRae travels north to Clachan Fells, a caravan site in the north-west of Scotland.
• Already living on the site are Stella, a trans girl, and her unconventional mother Constance.
• They are dealing with the cold, and with local disapproval of their lives.
• Dylan grows closer to Stella and Constance, and Stella’s sense of herself develops as the winter intensifies.
• Finally, fleeing a storm, they take shelter in the cottage of Stella’s biological father and wait in hope of their survival.

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The novel is divided into a prologue and four parts. Each part is set at a specific date and temperature:

• Prologue - Sets the context and provides a flash-forward to the start of Part Two.
• Part I (November 2020, -6 degrees) - develops the main three characters, Dylan, Stella and Constance, and establishes their situation, living in a world of plunging temperatures.
• Part II (8th December 2020, -19 degrees) - the winter and the relationship between Dylan and Constance intensify.
• Part III (31st January 2021, -38 degrees) - The pace of the action increases, in line with the drop in temperature. Dylan makes discoveries about his past, while Stella grows in confidence.
• Part IV, or The End Has Almost Come (19th March 2021, -56 degrees) - Stella, Constance and Dylan shelter from a blizzard in Stella's father's cottage. The novel ends ambiguously, and we are uncertain whether on not the characters will survive.

This short prologue sets out the context of the story:

• Climate change has caused ice caps to melt.
• This has reduced the sea's salinity.
• As a result, the North Atlantic Drift has slowed down.
• The UK is now heading to its coldest winter for 200 years.

The prologue also provides a flash-forward to the "last day of autumn": In a scene that is revisited at the start of Part Two, the three main characters, Stella, Constance and Dylan observe a parhelia, Each finds their own meaning in the image of three suns:

• Constance thinks of herself and her two past partners.
• Stella sees herself, her mother and 'clarity'.
• Dylan sees Constance, Stella and himself.

The story begins with Dylan McRae dealing with the deaths of his mother, Vivienne, and grandmother, Gunn, as well as the loss of their beloved Soho art house cinema, Babylon.

Miserable and lost, he leaves London and travels north to Clachan Fells, where his mother has bought a caravan. He brings the Vivienne and Gunn's ashes in plastic tubs for easy transportation. On arrival, he is intrigued by Constance, who is sleepwalking, apparently vacuuming the lane and attempting to polish the moon.

The narrative shifts to Stella, Constance’s twelve-year-old daughter. Stella is transgender and dealing with her fear and uncertainty about how other people regard her. She is especially concerned about Lewis, a former friend whom she is attracted to.

Stella’s challenges include her biological father, Alistair’s, refusal to accept her female identity and the hostility of schoolmates, who recently attacked her. Meanwhile, Dylan is struggling to deal with his grief and his complicated family background. He begins to feel reinvigorated, through experiencing nature when walking in the mountains, and through his attraction to Constance.

Warmth between the three characters develops, with Dylan automatically accepting Stella’s transition.

During a public meeting about the climate crisis, Stella is humiliated when an obscene drawing of her, made by her classmates, including Lewis, is dropped in her lap. Constance rips up the picture publicly, supporting Stella and shaming the perpetrators. They later find an old neighbour, Barnacle, collapsed in the cold. Events build to the community Bonfire Night celebrations, to which Constance wears a wolfskin cloak made for her by Alastair.

Following the parhelia, the world continues to grow colder. Stories of frozen animals build a sense of threat. Stella worries about her lack of control over the fate of her own body as she prepares for a GP appointment.

She heads out into the wilderness on her bike and feels vulnerable on her return, passing aggressive farm dogs and equally threatening drivers.

During a visit, Alastair refers to Stella by her previous boy's name. Dylan becomes angry and flicks Alistair’s nose. After looking for Stella and finding her homeward tracks, Dylan and Constance kiss.

Stella is urged to request puberty blockers by an Italian online friend, Vito. However, the doctor is unsympathetic and refuses. He suggests she is mentally unwell.

Stella, Dylan and Constance visit the harbour to see the beautiful effects of the snow and an iceberg in the distance. Stella sees Lewis and remembers kissing him, back in the summer. He waves but she ignores him.

Back at Dylan’s, Stella causes a scene by mistakenly throwing Vivienne’s ashes into the garden. Constance later comes back to see Dylan and they become physically and emotionally intimate. Stella, made desperate by the growing signs of male puberty, takes blockers she has sourced on the internet. She collapses.

Dylan looks through his mother’s scrapbook. He discovers that he is Alistair’s cousin and that Gunn was a victim of incest and rape.

Stella returns from hospital after her collapse. She triumphs when sledging with the other young people, her new-found self-confidence shining through. She and Constance get together with Dylan and Barnacle to watch the northern lights from the top of their caravan, marvelling in their beauty.

Stella is wearing pretty moccasins made by Alistair: she sees them as an apology. Putting Stella to bed, Dylan realises that "They both love her mother". Stella has begun to take charge of her body with waxing, using lip gloss and braiding her hair. She makes a snowman, alone and away from everyone, and again rejects Lewis’ attempts to make up. Stella fantasises about a life with Vito but he is unreachable online.

One night, Dylan finds Barnacle’s body: he has frozen to death.

There are only two short chapters in this final section.

With the temperature becoming even more extreme, Stella, Constance and Dylan return to the harbour to see the iceberg. It is much closer now. Stella tells Dylan that she has started taking proper puberty blockers. Dylan scatters Gunn’s ashes among the icicles and they drink to Barnacle.

A sudden blizzard approaches and they rush to shelter in Alistair’s cottage. Under pressure from Dylan, Alistair finally addresses Stella with her female name. They settle down to an uneasy peace, discussing family and survival. Dylan realises that Constance knows the truth about their family connection, as Vivienne had confided in her.

The cottage has everything they need to survive but as the temperature keeps dropping they all fall asleep, Dylan is the last to go to sleep, telling himself he can rest ‘just for a few hours.’ The ending is ambiguous: do they survive?