Shine Shine Shine

When Maxon met Sunny he was seven years, four months and eighteen days old. Or, he was 2693 rotations of the earth old. Maxon was different. Sunny was different. They were different together. Now, twenty years later, they are married, and Sunny wants, more than anything, to be 'normal'. But her husband is on a NASA mission to the moon, and a meteor is heading his way. Sunny wishes Maxon would turn the rocket around and come straight the hell home. This is the story of two children who grew up and fell in love. This is the story of an astronaut who is lost in space, and the wife he left behind. This is a love story like no other. This gloriously inventive, funny novel is at once an intimate portrait of a very modern American family and a timeless love story. It's about the choices that make us human, the line between life and death, and is a captivating exploration of marriage, motherhood and self.

'This is a love story with a difference. Looking at marriage, loss and the choices that make us all human, everyone will be talking about this one' Look Magazine

'Packed with original ideas and compelling characters ... funny, lyrical and fascinating ... This is a novel about the strangeness of being human. Lydia Netzer says she wrote it when she was pregnant with her first child and feeling "paralysed with fear ..." Hopefully, she feels better now. Or at least, a lot less alone in her imagined weirdness. After meeting Sunny and Maxon, I know I do' Independent on Sunday

'Not only entertaining, but nuanced and wise ... blending wit and imagination with an oddly mesmerizing, matter-of-fact cadence, Netzer s debut is a delightfully unique love story and a resounding paean to individuality' People Magazine (People Pick)

Quirky and inventive Mirror

'Over the moon with a metaphysical spin. Heart-tugging...it is struggling to understand the physical realities of life and the nature of what makes us human....Nicely unpredictable...Extraordinary' Janet Maslin, New York Times

'You have to admire Shine Shine Shine's ambition and originality' Stylist

'Netzer deftly illuminates the bonds that transcend shortcomings and tragedy. Characterized by finely textured emotions and dramatic storytelling, Netzer's world will draw readers happily into its orbit' Publishers Weekly

'Netzer has beautifully crafted an original story with a cast of characters who make up an unconventional but strangely believable family...This story will shine, shine, shine for all adult readers' Library Journal, starred review

Shine Shine Shine breaks free of the gravitational pull of traditional romantic clichés The Washington Post

'Lydia Netzer's luminous debut novel concerns what lies beneath society s pretty surfaces ... What makes it unexpectedly moving is how skillfully Netzer then peels back those layers, finding heartbreaking depth even in characters who lack ordinary social skills' --Boston Globe

'Netzer has penned a modern take on alienation, building a family, making connections creating memorable characters and an odd, idiosyncratic, but highly believable narrative along the way' The Toronto Star

'Utterly compelling and original' Chatelaine

'There are certain novels that are just twisty, delightfully so. Shine, Shine, Shine is one. In this first novel, Lydia Netzer takes a hard look at being completely human through the eyes of two people who are kinda not...Shine, Shine, Shine may ask an old question. But Netzer s answer to how to be who you are is fresh from the heart' New York Daily News

'A funny, compelling love story from the freshest voice I ve heard in years. Shine Shine Shine picked me up and left me changed in ways I never expected. Intelligent, emotional, and relentlessly new, Netzer answers questions you didn't know you were already asking and delivers an unforgettable take on what it means to love, to be a mother, and to be human' Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants and Ape House

'From the icy dead surface of the moon to the hot center of the human heart, Lydia Netzer's debut novel takes you on a rocket ride that will rattle your bones. Part science fiction, part pure magic of the human kind, Netzer makes a book that is wholly her own, and endlessly fascinating. At every turn, you think she cannot astonish you again, and then she does it one more time. And then again and again and again. This is an astounding first novel by a writer who is unique in her immense gifts.' --Robert Goolrick, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Reliable Wife

'Netzer has penned a modern take on alienation, building a family, making connections creating memorable characters and an odd, idiosyncratic, but highly believable narrative along the way' The Toronto Star

'Utterly compelling and original' Chatelaine

'There are certain novels that are just twisty, delightfully so. Shine, Shine, Shine is one. In this first novel, Lydia Netzer takes a hard look at being completely human through the eyes of two people who are kinda not...Shine, Shine, Shine may ask an old question. But Netzer s answer to how to be who you are is fresh from the heart' New York Daily News

'A funny, compelling love story from the freshest voice I ve heard in years. Shine Shine Shine picked me up and left me changed in ways I never expected. Intelligent, emotional, and relentlessly new, Netzer answers questions you didn't know you were already asking and delivers an unforgettable take on what it means to love, to be a mother, and to be human' Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants and Ape House

'From the icy dead surface of the moon to the hot center of the human heart, Lydia Netzer's debut novel takes you on a rocket ride that will rattle your bones. Part science fiction, part pure magic of the human kind, Netzer makes a book that is wholly her own, and endlessly fascinating. At every turn, you think she cannot astonish you again, and then she does it one more time. And then again and again and again. This is an astounding first novel by a writer who is unique in her immense gifts.' Robert Goolrick, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Reliable Wife

'Creating one of the most compelling protagonists I ve read in a long time, Lydia Netzer manages to capture the outsider in each of us. Whether looking at the moon, a child, the suburban landscape, or the face in the mirror, Netzer shows us something we've never seen before, something we thought we knew. A beautifully written story where the exception proves the rule: the things that seem to divide us are, ultimately, the very things that unite us Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places.

'A perfectly structured gem of a book that held me spellbound as I unraveled the twisted histories of this unconventional family. You've never read anything like it, and yet Sunny s story is every woman s story. We are all outsiders, all alone in space, all trying so hard to find a place called home. I loved this book' Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints

'An astronaut, an autistic child, a bald woman and a meteor collide, churning up the ground around a couple of decades-old murders. Life and death intersect in this wildly inventive love story I will be talking about and thinking about for years to come. If Yann Martel and Mary Gaitskill had a literary baby, it would look a lot like Lydia Netzer' --Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and American Rose

'A perfectly structured gem of a book that held me spellbound as I unraveled the twisted histories of this unconventional family. You ve never read anything like it, and yet Sunny's story is every woman's story. We are all outsiders, all alone in space, all trying so hard to find a place called home. I loved this book' Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints

'Creating one of the most compelling protagonists I ve read in a long time, Lydia Netzer manages to capture the outsider in each of us. Whether looking at the moon, a child, the suburban landscape, or the face in the mirror, Netzer shows us something we've never seen before, something we thought we knew. A beautifully written story where the exception proves the rule: the things that seem to divide us are, ultimately, the very things that unite us' Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places. --Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places.