The Bright Forever: A Novel

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • A “cleanly written [and] artful . . . page-turner” (San Francisco Chronicle) about a nine-year-old girl’s disappearance and the lasting impact it has on her close-knit community

“Compelling . . . both harrowing and deeply felt.”—New York Daily News

On an evening like any other, nine-year-old Katie Mackey, daughter of the most affluent family in a small town on the plains of Indiana, sets out on her bicycle to return some library books.

This simple act is at the heart of The Bright Forever, a suspenseful, moving novel about the choices people make that change their lives forever. Playing fact, speculation, and contradiction off one another as the details unfold, Lee Martin creates a fast-paced story that’s as gripping as it is richly human. His beautiful, clear-eyed, spartan prose builds to an extremely nuanced portrayal of the complicated give and take among people struggling to maintain their humanity in the shadow of loss.

Memorable for its perceptions and power, The Bright Forever is a captivating and emotional tale about the human need to know even the hardest truths.