Told through a child's eyes
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The blurb
I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused.
Six-year-old Aoife knows better than to talk to people no one else can see, like her best friend Teddy who her mother says is invisible. He's not, but Mama says it's rude anyways. So when Mama starts talking to Aoife's older brother Theo, Aoife is surprised. And when she stops the car in the middle of an intersection, crying and screaming, Aoife gets a bad feeling--because even if they don't talk about it, everyone knows Theo died a long time ago. He was murdered.
Eventually, Aoife is taken home by her Uncle Donny who says he'll stay with her until Mama comes home from the hospital, but Aoife doesn't buy it. The only way to bring Mama home is to find out what really happened to Theo. Even with Teddy by her side, there's a lot about the grown-up world that Aoife doesn't understand, but if Aoife doesn't help her family, who will?
Between Aoife's vivid imagination and her steadfast goal, All That's Bright and Gone illuminates the unshakable bond between mothers and daughters in an increasingly unstable world.
The Review
It's always going to be challenging to tell a story through the eyes of a 6 year-old and this is perhaps both this book's biggest strength and weakness. On the one hand, it is utterly heart wrenching to watch a mother break down through the eyes and words of such a young narrator. On the other hand, this naive viewpoint of the world can get a little tedious and make the plot harder to follow - it's a very difficult line to tread and one that has clearly split opinions on this book.
I really liked the plot of this book, but at some points I felt myself not really caring about the characters, especially Aoife. And I think if you don't care for the 6 year-old in this story, you just aren't going to be on board with it. I really liked the story itself and the way it develops as we slowly learn the circumstances that have lead to Aoife's mother's breakdown. I think I would have much preferred this book if it alternated between viewpoints so that Aoife's narrative was interspersed with some of the adults in the story.
I found it a bit far fetched that a child so young could convince herself that if she solves the mystery of her brother's disappearance, she will fix the hole in her family. That her and her friend suddenly become junior detectives was all a bit too much 'Famous 5' for me and my incredulity at this was what lifted me most out of this story. But if you can suspend your disbelief, it's quite clever how the rest of the story is told.
It is worth sticking with this book through until the end, as its not a bad little thriller and there is a pretty decent twist that I have to admit, I did not see coming.
All That's Bright and Gone was released on 10th December 2019 by Crooked Lane Books.
Big thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.