EACH NIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED

A teenage girl longs to believe again, despite her skepticism.

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Blake, a high school senior in Green Valley, New Jersey, once wanted to be a nun. But her faith died after her mother left her family and she witnessed a tragic, fatal train crash when she was 11. She was with Elias Jones, an Australian boy in town visiting relatives; afterward he sent letters that she ignored, and their contact ceased. Now Cassie suffers from anxiety and insomnia and has a complicated relationship with religion and God. She dotes on little brother Gabe while feeling alienated from her complacent father and sister. Cassie also feels alone in pushing back against Father James, the local demagogue priest. When Elias returns to the U.S. for college, he invites Cassie on a quest that shakes up her stifling existence. Their worldviews conflict: For Cassie, the world has felt inherently unsafe ever since the accident, while for Elias, it has felt full of magic. Their love blossoms despite challenges ranging from small-town prejudice to devastating climate change events. Cassie’s despair, rage, and courage in the face of seeming hopelessness are lyrically chronicled in quiet prose that belies the magnitude of the personal and global crises the teens face. The book follows a White default. Elias has one Bangladeshi grandparent and three who are presumably White; his characterization feels racialized and underdeveloped.

A thoughtful read about grappling with faith while learning to take a stand.