Press for Sun Seekers: The Cure of California

Selected “Top 25 Books of 2019” by Hyperallergic. “In this excellent book, Lyra Kilston reveals how the open architecture of European sanatoriums influenced the homes nestled in Southern California’s hills, such as Richard Neutra’s famous Lovell Health House. From natural medicine to nudism, Sun Seekers covers a fascinating history and its playful, vivid writing makes it a pleasure to read.”
Selected “Best Books of Summer 2019” by LA Weekly. “Fascinating and fun, Sun Seekers thoroughly chronicles the far-out history of California’s holistic-minded denizens and the lasting resonance of their quests for alternative modes of sustenance and environmental bliss.”
Podcast interview about the book by the LA Review of Books selected “Our Favorites of 2019” by The Syllabus
Los Angeles Times: “Content and design conspire to create a fascinating picture, by turns charming and chilling, of other times that continue to echo through this place.”
Washington Post: “While she focuses on the past, Kilston suggests compelling comparisons between gurus such as Lovell and today’s health fads.”
Los Angeles Review of Books: “There’s so much there, and it’s so fascinating […] Lyra spins fascinating tales that will challenge your understanding of L.A. history”
Daily Dose of Architecture Books: “highly enjoyable.”
Curbed.com: “Excellent [..] Kilston’s book deftly connects the myriad threads between European health fads, early modernist architecture, and the synthesis of both in the high-end homes that began to stack up on Los Angeles hillsides.”
Boom California: “Kilston forges a link between health seekers and modern architecture that articulates a construction of California-ness itself, which instead of functioning as merely a happy backdrop to movements around healthy living, demands its own story be told.”
El País: “…An impeccable little book that attests that every idea, however eccentric, is both 40 years old and 10 years ahead of its next incarnation.”
GreyScape: “It’s one of those books you read in one go – frankly, I couldn’t get enough of it”…”meticulously researched”
Hunker: “From Sanatoriums to the ‘Millennial Aesthetic,’ Wellness Has Evolved With Design”