The Brightest Star

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.

'A warm hug for young readers.' – The Irish Times

'Gorgeous, lyrical, warm and comforting.' – Inis Magazine

'Succinct text and lots of white space on the page support those with dyslexia or visual stress, for example, as well as reluctant readers.' – Juno Magazine

'Grehan’s sensitivity is her strength, as she reminds readers it’s OK to not have it all figured out just yet.'  – Irish Examiner

'Warm, loving, accepting, lyrical; so heartfelt, flowing and joyful. The Brightest Star is an act of compassion in and of itself.' – Fallen Star Stories

'Gorgeous Gorgeous Gorgeous ... Only Meg Grehan can break your heart and heal it in one sitting.' –  Ruth Ennis

Praise for The Deepest Breath

‘Incredibly artful, incredibly tender’ – Deirdre Sullivan, author of Tangleweed and Brine

‘Gorgeously written, emotionally complex and endlessly kind’ – Moïra Fowley-Doyle, author of Spellbook of the Lost and Found and All the Bad Apples

‘On the surface a quiet, gentle tale … But it is powerful in its simplicity: “I want to touch her hair,” Stevie blurts out, then tries to figure out what her mum’s raised eyebrows mean; later she goes to the library to find books that will explain things to her, but can find “nothing / About a princess and a princess / Or a queen and a queen / Nothing at all”. It’s a fierce reminder of the need for books that show readers of all kinds of love, as well as being this kind of book itself, especially for younger teens and pre-teens.’ – The Irish Times

‘A seamless narrative. Grehan’s verse flows like water, and her scenes – some tense, some thoughtful, and each slipping easily into the next – patiently follow the rises and falls of a young girl’s emotional life.’ – Gay Community News

‘I spent most of this beautifully written verse novel blinking back tears. Grehan has created one of those rare gems, a book that feels so utterly real and involving that the reader lives every page with the main character. Written with such heart and tenderness, after closing the last page, I felt genuinely distraught to have finished it. Amazing to think it’s only Grehan’s second book.’ – Sarah Webb, The Irish Independent
 

Meg Grehan is the author of five novels-in-verse, they are The Space Between, The Deepest Breath, Baby Teeth, The Lonely Book and The Brightest Star (May 2025). Her books have won two Children’s Books Ireland Awards and been nominated for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, An Post Irish Book Awards and the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing She lives in County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland where she spends her time writing, reading poetry and hugging trees.