The Brightest Star by Megan Grehan

The Brightest Star by Megan Grehan

The sequel to the award-winning queer novel in verse, The Deepest Breath – a beautifully written, warm and reassuring LGBTQIA+ story about growing up, identity and the comfort of friendship.

Stevie is about to start secondary school. She often feels anxious, but feels much better having her two best friends, Chloe and Andrew, by her side. Their new school is filled with excitement, like the LGBTQIA+ club, but also challenges, such as math class. The biggest challenge of all though comes when Andrew suddenly becomes distant.

Andrew isn't quite sure who he is yet. This didn't matter much before, especially when he was hanging out with Stevie and Chloe. Now it seems to matter very much indeed, but he doesn't know how to begin talking about it with his friends, who seem to be much clearer about who they are.

Meg Grehan is originally from County Louth but now hiding away in County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland, with a very ginger girlfriend, an even more ginger dog and an undisclosed number of cats (none of whom is ginger). Her first book The Space Between won the Eilís Dillon Award at the 2018 Children’s Books Ireland Awards. The Deepest Breath won the Judge’s Special Prize at the 2020 Children’s Books Ireland Awards and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. It is published in the USA by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and in France by Talents Haut. Baby Teeth was a Kirkus Best YA Book of 2022 and was nominated for the 2023 Carnegie Medal.