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This Moth Saw Brightness
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  • Published: 25 June 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593698600
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $45.00

This Moth Saw Brightness

Formats & editions
Paperback
18 Aug 2026
EBook
27 May 2025
Audiobook
27 May 2025
Hardback
25 June 2025
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A weird and revelatory debut that vividly captures the dislocation of growing up BIPOC and neurodivergent in a country awash in both conspiracy theories and genuine conspiracies.

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.
  • Published: 25 June 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593698600
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $45.00

About the author

A. A. Vacharat

A. A. Vacharat is an author, illustrator, and web developer. She is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Art MFA program. Her books include elements of science, technology, and usually at least a little whimsy or absurdity. She includes characters that her child-self yearned to see—such as children with one Asian parent and autistic protagonists—and portrays worlds beyond those most often seen. This Moth Saw Brightness is her debut.
A.

Praise for This Moth Saw Brightness

* "This funny, insightful debut about mental illness, identity, and a person’s capacity to change packs a surprising emotional punch. Bold stylistic choices—wry footnotes, the inclusion of documents referenced in the story, a brief interjection by the author—add an interactive element to D's humorous and self-deprecating first-person narration. Superb."—Kirkus, starred review


"Utilizing cheeky footnotes and fourth-wall-breaking asides, and deploying shocking twists and turns, Vacharat delivers a propulsive and unnerving debut."—PW

* "This funny, insightful debut about mental illness, identity, and a person’s capacity to change packs a surprising emotional punch. Bold stylistic choices—wry footnotes, the inclusion of documents referenced in the story, a brief interjection by the author—add an interactive element to D's humorous and self-deprecating first-person narration. Superb."—Kirkus, starred review


"Utilizing cheeky footnotes and fourth-wall-breaking asides, and deploying shocking twists and turns, Vacharat delivers a propulsive and unnerving debut."—PW