Sad Dad Book Club: The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman

A poignant coming-of-age story with the sensitivity and haunting power of What Belongs to You and Swimming in the Dark, about a young boy wrestling with his sexuality as war breaks out in modern Ukraine.

In many ways, twelve-year-old Artem’s life in Chernihiv, Ukraine, is normal. He spends his days helping on his grandfather’s sunflower farm, drawing in his sketchbook—a treasured gift from his father, who works in America—and swimming in the river with his little brother, Yuri. In secret, Artem has begun wrestling with romantic feelings for his best friend, Viktor. In a country where love between two boys is unthinkable, Artem has begun to worry that growing up, his life will never be normal.

Then, on a February night, Artem and Yuri are woken by explosions—the beginning of a war that will tear their lives apart. Fleeing in hopes of somehow reuniting with their father, the brothers traverse the country their ancestors once fought and died for, with nothing but their backpacks and each other. Surrounded by death and destruction, Artem is certain of one thing—that whatever may come, he must keep himself and his brother alive.

A harrowing and gorgeous tale of love, identity, lost innocence, and survival set in a time of devastating war, The Sunflower Boys is a powerful, heartrending exploration of young queer love, the Ukrainian spirit, and a family’s struggle to survive.

Sam Wachman is a writer from Cambridge, Massachusetts with Ukrainian roots. His short fiction has appeared in Sonora Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, and New England Review. Before writing The Sunflower Boys, he taught English to primary schoolers in central Ukraine and worked with refugee families in Europe and the United States.

Much of Wachman’s work is grounded in questions of identity, cultural inheritance, and resilience in the face of loss. With a voice that balances intimacy and urgency, he writes stories that inhabit the emotional spaces between language and silence, home and exile, childhood and adulthood. His narratives are deeply informed by personal experience, and his time living in Ukraine before the full-scale Russian invasion provided him not only with a close understanding of the region’s history and culture, but also a deep empathy for its people—particularly children and families whose lives are upended by war.

Wachman’s fiction often centers queer protagonists navigating hostile worlds with defiant tenderness, reflecting his commitment to portraying LGBTQ+ characters with nuance and humanity. His debut novel, The Sunflower Boys, emerges as a deeply felt response to a world in crisis, told through the eyes of a young boy on the cusp of self-discovery amidst the devastation of war. With prose both lyrical and clear-eyed, Wachman captures the emotional texture of adolescence, the quiet power of brotherhood, and the fragility of love in a time of loss.

As both a writer and humanitarian, Wachman continues to engage with issues at the intersection of displacement, queer identity, and Eastern European memory, establishing himself as a vital literary voice of his generation.