We Burned So Bright

‘Like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket’ – V. E. Schwab, author of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, on The House in the Cerulean Sea

The world is ending in thirty days.

A wandering black hole is approaching Earth, and soon, everything will be gone. For husbands Don and Rodney, forty years of marriage suddenly feels like no time at all.

One last road trip. One final chance to say goodbye.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea comes a story about what we owe the people we love when time runs out. Don and Rodney are in a race against the clock, driving from Maine to Washington State to settle unfinished business before the sky breaks.

Is it enough to burn bright, even if nothing remains of the ashes?

Along the way, they encounter a world choosing how to spend its final moments—from impromptu weddings and bright bonfires to those simply sharing a final meal. Under a kaleidoscope sky and a cracked moon, Don and Rodney must look back on a lifetime of highs and lows and ask the ultimate question: was our best good enough?

A bittersweet, life-affirming masterpiece about love, legacy, and the beauty of a life well-lived.