This Moth Saw Brightness

A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A weird and revelatory novel that vividly captures the dislocation of growing up BIPOC and neurodivergent in a country awash in both conspiracy theories and genuine conspiracies.

“This funny, insightful debut about mental illness, identity, and a person’s capacity to change packs a surprising emotional punch.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

’Wayne Le—known as “Invisible-D ’Wayne” at school—has been invited to participate in a seemingly ordinary, innocuous adolescent health study by a prestigious university. The study is easy: take a few pills, use an app for quizzes and writing prompts. And it has a few nice perks: cash, health insurance, a letter of commendation. But most important to ’Wayne is the opportunity to give his immigrant father something that’s been in short supply since ’Wayne’s mother left: an accomplishment to be proud of.

The study quickly proves to be anything but ordinary and innocuous, and ’Wayne, his best friend Kermit, and a fellow study participant named Jane (a girl who shall not be manic-pixied) find themselves sucked into an M. C. Escheresque maze of conspiracies that might be entirely in their heads or might truly be a sinister government plot.