Back to the Bright Before

A magical adventure about two brave siblings determined to find a treasure that could save their family.

When eleven-year-old Pet Martin’s dad falls from a ladder on their family farm, it isn’t just his body that crashes to the ground. So does every hope her family had for the future. Money is scarce, and Pet’s mom is bone-tired from waiting tables at the local diner, and even with the extra hours, it’s not enough for a third surgery for Pet’s dad. Her five-year-old brother, Simon, now refuses to say anything except the word “cheese.” Worst of all? The ladder accident was Pet’s fault.

She’s determined to fix things—but how? Good old-fashioned grit…and maybe a little bit of magic. 

When a neighbor recites a poem about an ancient coin hidden somewhere on the grounds of the local abbey, Pet forms a plan. With her brother, a borrowed chicken, and a stolen pony, Pet runs away from home. If she can find the coin, Daddy can have his surgery, Momma can stop her constant working, and Simon might speak again. But Pet isn't the only one who wants the coin…which means searching for it is more dangerous than she ever imagined. 

This dazzling debut novel filled with magic, family, and adventure is sure to be an instant classic.

Katherin Nolte received an MFA from the University of Iowa, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Her fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including Glimmer Train Stories, Fiction, American Short Fiction, Fence, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and the Norton anthology New Sudden Fiction. She is a winner of the Stony Brook Short Fiction Prize. She currently lives in Iowa City. A late-night ER visit with her four children, during which they read aloud several middle-grade novels (including The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane) to pass the time while waiting for the surgeon's stitches, inspired her to write Back to the Bright Before.