I feel for Aoife. She has a name that is constantly mispronounced, is misinformed about her brother’s death and her family as a whole. Aoife is so poor that she and her mother have crackers and water for lunch.. When her mother has to stay in the hospital for “confusion”, Aoife’s uncle comes to live with her. Fortunately, he is able to provide her with a stable environment and a full refrigerator. Her constant companion is Teddy....a bear that only she can see. Determined to find her brother’s killer, Aoife uncovers surprising information about her family I received an advanced copy of All That’s Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums,and am voluntarily supplying my review.

'There is a woman who is crying in the corner, real quiet. I don’t like it when grown-ups cry. Most of all I don’t like it when Mama cries.'

Aoife (pronounced EE-fah, which the adults never seem to get right) is caught up in the confusion and chaos of all the grown-ups around her. She understands the meaning of gone. Gone is forever, gone is DEAD– just like her big brother Theo. She knows better than to talk about it or ask questions, he was murdered and Mama can’t stomach the grief. She has a vague memory of him, one day on the beach, she was lost and he found her, but it’s all so muddied. Luckily for Aoife, she has a constant companion, Teddy who isn’t imaginary no matter what people say! She can see him clear as she sees her best friend Hannah, so he is real! He is a bear! It isn’t smart to talk about him though, especially not to the ladies Dr. Pearlman sends from sea-pee-ess. Sea-pee-ess are government people that help families, but if you say things that seem weird they might take it the wrong way. One thing is certain, the adult world is confusing! Theo's murder isn't the only mystery, her whole life feels like one.

Siobhan (her Mama) has gone away, but she isn’t gone away like Theo, she can and will return at some point. Something is wrong inside of her and it all goes back to the day she broke her own rule of talking to people who aren’t there. Mama was so angry, yelling at her dead son. The doctors just need Aoife’s help trying to understand the incident, and looking for someone to take care of her while Mama is away. There is no daddy for Aoife, she is special, she was born in the cabbage patch, it’s a fact- her Mama told her! There is an Uncle Donny, her mother’s younger brother and he tries his best to care for her (after all, he is a single, childless bachelor) but he can’t keep Aiofe from running off with Hannah, trying to gather clues and weed out suspects of her brother’s murder.

Uncle Donny knows Mama’s sickness is confusion sickness. He understands the deep disappointment Aoife feels, Mama promised to take her to see the fireworks this year, but if she’s away she won’t be able to go. He also understands and says it’s okay if she doesn’t always miss Theo, but any mention of her brother is met with “let’s not talk anymore about Theo today.” No one ever seems to ever want to talk about him. Hannah gets secret messages in dreams, Hannah is older and is going to be a detective one day. She can talk about Theo to her! Hannah even dreamed about him. Can she solve the crime still if Hannah abandons her? Soon, Aoife begins to wonder if her family really is crazy, like people say. But the church has saints and the holy ghost, that’s not crazy.

Could Mama’s friend Mac be a killer? He is sort of strange and angry. All she wants is to escape to the Secret Place that Teddy discovered. Teddy is trying to tell her something, all the time, but it doesn’t make sense. Uncle Donny is doing his best with Mama gone but he isn’t the greatest looking after her. What if the big bad man comes to drag her off to the Children’s Prison like Hannah warned her would happen?

Everything is happening fast, adults are telling her things that she can’t comprehend, the story of her family is different than what Mama has told. What if she is ill, like her mother, maybe Teddy isn’t real! Even he is starting to scare her. Is she crazy? If memory is tricky, it’s a foreign language for a six year old. In the interest of protecting the innocence of a child, adults often aim for silence, which leaves an imaginative kid like Aiofe to construct a world so far removed from reality that what she believes to be concrete fact is more painful than the truth. Mental illness swims through the story, it’s disheartening because there is no doubt Aiofe and Sibohan (her mother) love each other, but she slips away when the meds are wrong and the stresses of life are magnified when you also have to cope with your health. The world is often kinder if your illness is physical rather than mental, not to say it’s easy either way, but the stigma of mental illness is cruel when children catch wind of it. Worse, there is always the looming threat that if Sibohan can’t keep it altogether, Aiofe can be taken away! Our little Aiofe, at six, is becoming aware of what society deems normal vs. abnormal and just where her family fits. There is hope, and I think Uncle Donny beautifully explained what being sick for Sibohan means. Sure, you may not be cured, but you can be treated to live with it better. I like that, that’s reality.

I was surprised as much as Aiofe by the revelation of what happened to Theo and I felt as frustrated and confused as she did. There is this strange span of time when you’re still not fully present, your mind is just giving birth to reasoning, it’s developing and you are learning to distinguish between emotions, facts, and fantasy. This is where Aiofe is. I especially like what happened with she and Hannah, because kids can be fair-weather friends sometimes and mean as snakes not because they’re terrible beings, but because they are immature. It made the story far more genuine. Well done, this will be released later in the year, add it to your December TBR list.

Publication Date: December 10, 2019

Crooked Lane Books

This was a very unusual but very engaging and interesting story - even if I didn't always buy that it was being narrated by a six-year old... I have a six-year old. A VERY precocious, verbose, clever six-year old (if I may say so myself) with a sharp mind who seems years beyond her age much of the time. So I'm familiar with Aoife's breed (and more than a little partial to it). Fortunately for us all, our story is NOTHING LIKE HERS - beyond the presence of the aforementioned six-year old. But even accepting that trauma can age a child, I struggled to keep reminding myself that the self-aware (and even in her childish misconceptions she was always that) narrator of this incredible tale was a child...

I can see where some readers may lose the story in that. I didn't - and was surprised, because I usually don't take to adult stories with child narrators because most authors have a difficult time finding the right tone or voice that balances the linguistic/observational skills of the child with the necessary revelatory requirements of the narrator. Nellums did the best job I've ever seen at walking that wire, and if it occasionally required me to forget Aoife's age for the sake of the narration, it did so in a fairly seamless and non-disruptive fashion that deserves a lot of credit. But that's not all she deserves a lot of credit for - she also deserves it for telling an original, engaging, entertaining tale that is about a child but also about the more fundamental need we all have to understand, to be loved, and to find our truth in the midst of the misunderstandings, protections, and secrets of those around us.

This is a lovely and heartbreaking story that genuinely surprised me at multiple turns. Aoife is a delight and the magical realism that edges her world was brilliant, offering just the right mix of magic and confusion and acceptance of whatever comes that is the hallmark of childhood. Nellums wrote a beautiful paean to family and love here, and she did it without preaching or sappiness or tropes. The story folded in on itself like origami, with each fold seeming a bit random but adding up to a marvelous "AHA!" at the end. I loved it and am definitely keeping Nellums on my watch list...

I completely feel in love with Aoife! The author carefully crafts a distance between what young an naïve Aoife reports seeing and what we as the reader understand, making for a really poignant climax as Aoife unlocks the secrets around her brother's death. Fans of Mark Haddon will appreciate Aoife's wonderful narration, which is beautifully done. I would thoroughly recommend for any fans of mysteries!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of All That's Bright and Gone, 5/5 stars! Eliza Nellums is definitely an author to keep on your radar! This story is told from the perspective of a 6 year old child and while I was wary of that I feel it made the novel even better. This novel pulls at your heartstrings from the start, and is a story about family, mental health, and love being all you need. I will definitely be looking for more from the author in the future!

This book was an quick and unique read! I have never read a book narrated by a 6 year old but it makes you see the story from an interesting perspective. This book was full of adventure and emotion as well as twists and turns. The ending wrapped it all up nicely but I wish it talked about the hearing. All in all, a nice, easy read!

I loved this book it hits you with the feels that a Picoult book does.
I love the character of the little girl. This is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

A 6 yr old girl narrating her story
of a brother who has died and of her mother who has been locked up due to mental illness. She goes on a few adventures to find out info abt her family with her make believe bear,Teddy. Great book, couldnt wait to get to the end! Thanks Net Galley!!

How do you not love Aoife (pronounced EE- fah)? Aoife is the voice of this entertaining and delightful read. She is six years old. Precocious, endearing, determined and driven by how much she loves and adores her mother. The characters in this novel are illuminated with details that pop them from the written page. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this highly pleasing and heartfelt book on every level. Do yourself a favor, read it.

REVIEW
Eliza Nellums' All That's Bright and Gone is an engaging story told from the perspective of a six-year-old girl, Aoife. Her world is turned upside-down with the murder of her older brother and missing her mother with her being in the hospital. She's staying with her Uncle Donny, and she's got her imaginary friend Teddy by her side. She's got a mission to make sense of her world and put things back together again. This book is challenging, but heartwarming as well. This novel will appeal to fans of Fredrik Backman and Mark Haddon.

PRAISE
“A luminous debut. Eliza Nellums’ six-year-old Aoife (pronounced ”EE-fah“, if you please) will knock you cock-a-hoop. A hero’s journey, with possible angels, ghosts, and Teddies. It will change forever the way you look at the little girl next door.”
—Alan Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of the Flavia de Luce mysteries

“A gripping and affecting debut that will leave you laughing. Prepare to fall in love with this beautiful mystery and six-year old Aoife. Eliza Nellums is one to watch.”
—Rhiannon Navin, international bestselling author of Only Child

AUTHOR
Eliza Nellums is a member of the Metro Wriders and has a Masters degree from the University of Michigan. Raised in the Detroit suburbs, Elizabeth now lives with her cat in Washington, DC where she is the manager of a grants program at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Her short story “Changelings” was published in the anthology Magical. All That’s Bright and Gone is her debut novel.

Thank You NetGalley for the free ARC. A story about families and how things can go wrong and how sometimes a relative has to step in a fix it all told from the perspective of a child.

I enjoyed this book. It was in the perspective of a 6 year old trying to piece together where he brother is, with her imaginary friends. Mental health is a major topic for the mother and she winds up in the hospital so the uncle comes in to help care for her. It was interesting to see how everything comes together and impacted the girls life in a manner that had me thinking she was just as mentally unstable as her mother. Very happy that I got to read this book via net galley.

Wow so many emotions I felt through this book... tears and laughter I had it all. This was such an amazing read. I loved the storyline the characters everything about this.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Reminiscent of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this is a brilliant little story about mental illness and it’s impacts on family told from the perspective of six-year-old Aoife (EE-fa). Humorous, sad, quirky, and very well-written, All That’s Bright and Gone follows Aoife through her childish imaginations and mysterious discoveries on her hero’s journey after her mother is hospitalized to find out what happened to her older brother and reunite her family.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh such a good story!! 6 year old Aoife little world has been turned up side down. This story is narrorated by a 6 year old girl who mom has been taken away “to get better” and she along with teddy (her imaginary little bear) and her Neigbor Hanna try to investigate her brothers death (murder) of Theo thinking that’s the old way to bring her momma home.

I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused.

There’s plenty about the grownup world that six-year-old Aoife doesn’t understand. Like what happened to her big brother Theo and why her mama is in the hospital instead of home where she belongs. Uncle Donny says she just needs to be patient, but Aoife’s sure her mama won’t be able to come home until Aoife learns what really happened to her brother. The trouble is no one wants to talk about Theo because he was murdered. But by whom?

With her imaginary friend Teddy by her side and the detecting skills of her nosy next-door neighbor, Aoife sets out to uncover the truth about her family. But as her search takes her from the banks of Theo’s secret hideout by the river to the rooftops overlooking Detroit, Aoife will learn that some secrets can’t stay hidden forever and sometimes the pain we bury is the biggest secret of them all.


The story was told from the point of view Aoife. A book about mental illness and trying to make her world a better one. It was heart touching as well as times heartbreaking. Very much a sweet , book about love and family.
I was very moved and had to finish this one to have closure for myself and Aoife.

I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused.

There’s plenty about the grownup world that six-year-old Aoife doesn’t understand. Like what happened to her big brother Theo and why her mama is in the hospital instead of home where she belongs. Uncle Donny says she just needs to be patient, but Aoife’s sure her mama won’t be able to come home until Aoife learns what really happened to her brother. The trouble is no one wants to talk about Theo because he was murdered. But by whom?



Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a great experience first time reading anything from this author this book had me on the edge of my seat

What makes this story unique and memorable is that it’s told from the perspective of a child named Aofie. I was drawn in from the beginning and couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this book!

Aoife (Eef-fe) is a 6 year old who is struggling to understand what has happened to her family. This story is a bit like 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' or 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. The child narrating the story is not really comprehending the magnitude of incidents and conversations as they occur, but you as an observer are able to read between the lines and piece together what is happening.
Aoife finds herself at home with her Uncle Donny and her imaginary friend Teddy, while her mother is in hospital because of her 'confusion'. Aoife with some assistance from her eight year old neighbour Hannah looks for clues as to how her brother 'Theo' died. Will these two be able to solve a murder? According to Hannah they will know the real murderer when he comes after them. For Aoife solving this mystery means making her mother better enough to come home again.
An interesting story of a family struggling with mental illness, interspersed with some humorous observations that could only be made by a six year old. Aoife will make you laugh and cry and want to hug her.
Thank you Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Aoife (pronounced ee-fa) is a six year old girl whose mom just had a nervous breakdown in the middle of an intersection. Aoife says her mom is "confused", especially about whether her brother Theo is dead. Aoife becomes convinced that the only way her mother can overcome her "confusion" is if Aoife can solve the mystery of her brother's death. As Aoife begins to investigate, other troubling truths come to life that will change her life forever. Heartbreaking and beautifully written, Nellums has given us a wonderful story about faith, mental illness and the meaning of family. I loved this book.