This poignant and heartbreaking novel explores the power of resilience, the gift of friendship, and the divine beauty to be found in the big, bright world - if only we're willing to look.

Pennsylvania, 1940s. The only life Brighton Friedrich has ever known is the one she has endured within the dreary walls of Riverside Home - the rural asylum where she was born. A nurse, Joann, has educated and raised Brighton, whose mother is a patient at the hospital. But Joann has also kept vital information from Brighton - secrets that if ever revealed would illuminate Brighton's troubling past and the circumstances that confine her to Riverside. Brighton's best friend is a boy she calls Angel, and as they grow up together and face the bleak future that awaits them, they determine to make a daring escape.

Nothing can prepare Brighton and Angel for life beyond Riverside's walls. They have no legal identities, very little money, and only a few leads toward a safe place to land. As they struggle to survive in a world they've never seen before, they must rely on each other and the kindness of strangers - some of whom may prove more dangerous than the asylum they've fled.

Narrated in Elizabeth Byler Younts's gorgeous style, The Bright Unknown is a sparkling search for answers, family, and a place to call home.