A story with a huge twist!
Seeing the world through the eyes of six year old EE-fah and her imaginary bear friend Teddy.
Her mother struggles to come to terms with past events and has a breakdown leaving her in the care of her uncle.
Explores friendships and relationships but things are not as they seem.

Story told from a 6 year olds point of view. Puzzled by what caused her momma to be confused, uncertain if her brother is dead, and not quite sure if she came from a cabbage patch or not. Aoife struggles to make sense of her world after her momma is confused and ends up in the hospital. Uncle Donny comes to take care of her, and she tries to solve the mystery of her brother Theo. Is Theo dead? Why doesn’t anyone like her talking to her friend Teddy, just because she is the only one who sees him? Will momma get well enough to come home?

Advanced copy for honest review.

All Thats Bright and Gone is the debut novel by Eliza Nellums. It is a story told from the perspective of Aiofe (pronounced Ee -fah but not to be confused with Eva) who is six years old.

Aiofe understands many things because she is six years old. She understands that her brother Theo is dead, her mother often confused and always saddened by the loss of Theo, God is important and the Saints offer protection in varying forms to both herself and her mother, Theo's father is dead but she came from the cabbage patch, and she is to stay clear of Mr Rutledge who lives up the road. Aiofe is accompanied in her daily life by Teddy, a friend who everyone says must be invisible but Aiofe knows he is a real bear. Teddy and her eight year old friend Hannah set out to investigate Theo's death (of course he was murdered said Hannah, and the must look for suspects and evidence). Aiofe knows if they can solve Theo's murder it will help her mother who has been hospitalised after having a mental health episode in the middle of an intersection with Aiofe in the car. Aiofe tells everyone her Mama has simply gone away, she doesn't want everyone knowing her Mama is so confused.

Enter Uncle Donny, Aiofe's maternal uncle who steps up to care for Aiofe while her mother is hospitalised. Donny struggles in caring for Aoife. Does he try to protect Aiofe from knowing too much or does he explain the reality of her mother's variable mental health, her mother's relationships, and the real risk he and Aiofe’s mother face of losing Aiofe if CPS determine there is enough evidence to suggest Aiofe's physical and psychological needs are not being met. There is a repeating role for Mac, Aiofe’s on-again-off-again boyfriend.

Aiofe’s point of view is interspersed with letters written by Aiobhan, Aiofe’s mother. They loosely tie the novel together, but in my opinion not sufficiently so. Aiofe’s abilities at times to pick up on subtleties belie her chronological age and are not convincing and are juxtaposed with her missing much of the obvious (ie. she is six!). The final chapters were unconvincing given the issues at stake and I found it hard to believe. [No spoilers here].
Thank you to Eliza Nellums, Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My review will be posted on my personal blog instagram @aplace_inthesun and also on goodreads..

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.
All That's Bright and Gone is told from the viewpoint of a six year old girl whose brother Theo has died. Aiofe's mama is confused and sometimes doesn't remember that Theo is dead.
Aiofe feels like she has to keep the family together and working.
this book is beautiful... and sad. everyone should read this.

This complimentary ARC was courtesy of netgalley - the opinions below are mine and unbiased

I loved this

The story is told from the child's perspective which is unusual but very effective

Extremely well written characters - I found the book moving - couldn't put down
.

Thank you Net Galley and Eliza Nellums for the opportunity to read this ARC.
This is a story written from a 6 year old girls viewpoint of what is going on in her world, she has a mother who has had to go away " to get better" an uncle who has come to stay with her, a brother whom she thinks has died and she wants to find out who killed him, she embarks on this journey with her imaginary friend Teddy and her neighbor girlfriend.
this story did not capture me, I finished the book as it was an ARC and I wanted to give my review.
I found the characters well developed, the plot was well thought out and the story read well, but I found the first part of the story a little childish/immature for my liking.
We follow Aoife through the novel and her adventures and life lessons to the end of the story when everything and everyone comes full circle and her world is complete
I would classify as a cute story, easy to read, but just not my cup of tea.

A unique and charming story. This is all told through the eyes of a 6 year old little girl. It is heartwarming to see things through the perspective of a young child. They are so pure and guileless. Aoife (pronounced EE-fah) is a 6 year old whose brother is dead. Her mama gets confused a lot and her best friend is an imaginary bear that can grow to any size as necessary but seems to get her in trouble all the time. She has another real life best friend, who lives next door and is two years olde than her. One day, Aoife's mama gets super-confused and ends up being taken away in the blue van, and Aoife is left in the care of her Uncle Donovan. Aoife knows that she has to solve the case of who killed her brother in order to bring her mama home. She enlists the help of her next-door neighbor (who is great at investigating things). Together, they make a list of suspects and witnesses and write down clues and try to solve the case and bring Aoife's mama home. Things, however, even in the world of a six year old, are never that simple, and there are a few bumps and twists and turns. I was utterly charmed by this story as I remembered back to my early childhood years, where everything was so simple, yet so complex. It reminded me that as adults, we need to listen to children and try to understand and help explain things to them, rather than just telling them they'll understand when they are older. I adored Uncle Donovan. He was the perfect stand-in parent for Aoife, and did his very best to help her understand what was happening in her world. This whole story left me feeling nostalgic for my childhood years.

This book exceeded my expectations, I was really impressed.
I think it's very hard to write from a child's perspective but the character of Aoife is very well written and fleshed out. It reminded me a little of The Boy In The Striped Pajamas which is high praise for sure.
A special, moving and emotional book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

All That’s Bright and Gone is a very intriguing novel that explores mental illness in a family. It is very sad to read about the mother being in a mental institution while the young daughter struggles to make sense of things. She is really too young to absorb many of the events that occur in her life. The story revolves around her and what happens as time goes on while she is being taken care of by her uncle. I read this book in two days! It is a very fast read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something that is different and a novel where you feel what it is like to be mentally ill and how it effects the family dynamic,

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

In All That's Bright and Gone we meet six-year old Aoife, who is trying to figure out what is going on in her world around her. On a normal day out, Mama suddenly stops the car and gets out to talk to Theo the son she lost years ago. Aoife knows better than to talk to things that aren't real, Mama said so herself. This is why young Aoife is not allowed to talk to her imaginary friend Teddy, but Teddy is real and she wants the world to know.

After Mama lands herself in the hospital, Aiofe is sent home with her Uncle Donny. Teddy likes Donny, and so does Aoife, he's her favourite. Young Aiofe has so many questions when she gets home, questions that her uncle can not answer. Aiofe realizes that the only way to get Mama back home is to find out what happened to Theo all those years ago. Young Aiofe embarks on a magical journey with the help of Teddy and her best friend Hannah, and gets into a lot more trouble in the process.

I had mixed feelings about Aoife, I wanted to love her but I often got very frustrated at how sheltered her character was. Although in the end her character development is strong, I disliked how innocent she was to so many concepts. This book had me wanting to sit down with the adults and just explain to them how much of a poor job they were doing explaining concepts to her. Due to them, Aoife was often left confused about major situations in her life.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

*4 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read and I found the characters interesting as well. Shows that some people believe in religion and some children have imaginary friends. Lots of good things happened in this book to help the characters with their unknowns.

This was one of those books where I wanted to have a serious talk with all the adults about the need to explain things to children. No matter how small they are they deserve more than "soon" and "maybe" and "your mother will explain it to you when you are older." In All That's Bright and Gone: A Novel we meet a little girl called Aoife who suffers in the worst way from not understanding what is going on around her.

I enjoyed the story and I loved six year old Aoife and the understandings she tries to create for herself as she goes along. I was cross with all the adults who were supposed to be looking out for her and yet could not even be bothered to remember how to pronounce her name. Sometimes I found the book very slow and filled with a bit too much trivia about how Aoife spent her day. The ending was unexpected although I was just beginning to wonder if all was not as it seemed.

Overall a pleasant and enjoyable way to pass a few hours.

I enjoyed this book which kept my interest as I was curious as to what had happened - love that it was told through a child’s perspective and the thoughts she had and how the decisions others made impacted her

All That’s Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums a four-star read that will shine brightly. This was a great story and such a great way of narrating the story from the perspective of six year old Aofie who is adorable in her own right, at least over her name she is, she is this little creature who wants to get to the bottom of things that a girl her age just shouldn’t know. The details are good, but at times do go a bit far and into too much detail, but if you like thrillers that will keep you guessing you will enjoy this.

I don't know how I feel about this one. While I liked it and thought the writing was good, I was also confused at some points. Most of this, I think is due to the formatting issues in the Kindle version. Hopefully, they'll be sorted out by publication. I did like Aiofe, and I thought that having the story told in her young voice was a compelling way to tell the story, as well as because she was so young, as readers we understood some things that she didn't right away. I did think it ended a little quickly, and there are a few loose ends that I would have a more detailed explanation. Overall, not a bad story and a quick mostly fast-paced read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc, in exchange for an honest review.

All That"s Bright and Gone is a compelling read with an authentic child narrator - apart from A Curious Incident, I have never read another book with such a believable child as a narrator. It is an effective mystery novel as details are drip-fed to the reader in a way that keeps the novel feeling fresh and moves it along at an enjoyable pace. I really liked the characters Aoife and her Uncle Donny, although I felt very sorry for them both at times.

This is easy to keep reading and I finished it in one day - I would recommend it as a great holiday read. Thank you very much to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a book from an interesting perspective, and reading from a child’s point of view is certainly unique.
It was well done and well thought out, and our main character is certainly likeable.
I felt a little detached from him, though, and wanted to feel more connected to him.
Overall it was a nice story that certainly let kept me entertained, and I would love to see more from this author in the near future!

This was a fantastic story told from the perspective of 6-year olf Aoife as she, and the reader, try to uncover both what is happening with her mother (shes confused and in hospital) and what happened to her brother (he died and no-one will talk about it).

I love stories from a child's perspective, it's a very effective way of revealing a story but is difficult to do well. In All That's Bright and Gone, Eliza Nellums uses it spectacularly. I loved Aoife, her observations and experiences are both extremely child-like while further revealing to the reader a bigger, more complex picture.

It is a thrilling and immersive reading experience, Aoife is endearing and the other characters are well-developed - I particularly loved the friendship with Hannah. I loved the twists throughout the story as Aoife discovers more about her family and what happened to her brother.

6 year old Aoife will steal your heart from the beginning of the book. She has a mother with mental illness and an older brother who died when she was little. Aoife doesn't remember much about her brother but she knows she has to solve the mystery of what happened to him in order to help her mom come home.
There are so many ups and downs in this book I could not put it down until the end. It is told from the perspective of a brave little Aoife. You see how a child is dealing with mental illness and death in her family. A great read that will make you laugh and cry throughout.

I dint think I’ve ever read a book that is written from their perspective of a 6 year old child. At that age, there was so much she didn’t understand about the circumstances that surrounded her mother and adults around her. Her 8 year old friend and she decide to “solve the mystery” of the death of her brother. That, along with her mother’s health issues make for an interesting story.,