Press

Best Thriller Novels of 2024

— The New York Times

The Best Books We’ve Read in 2024

— The New Yorker

Best Books of 2024

— Publisher’s Weekly

“[G]orgeously written… the prose burns bright.”

— “Three Edge-of-Your-Seat New Thrillers”, The New York Times Book Review

“[A] smart, propulsively readable debut novel about a brilliant comet, a grieving widow, a troubled romance and a burgeoning cult… [Todd’s] prose is elegant but accessible, her narrative embraces both mystery and quick plot pivots, and her protagonist, though flawed, remains sympathetic. And Todd’s grip only tightens as the story turns downright chilling.”

— LA Times

“There’s a soothing, near-mystical quality to the book’s language, a sense of being borne along on unseen currents… What is on the page holds up a mirror to what is in the sky — luminous, unusual, unexpected… Todd has a brilliant trick up her sleeve […] — a feint that brings “Bright Objects” to a remarkable conclusion as unexpected as it is poignant, and more original and human than any conventional cult story.”

— The New York Times

An “intoxicating debut… a lyrical and inventive literary mystery from an author whom readers will hope returns far sooner than any visiting comet.”

— Publisher’s Weekly starred review

"A little bit thriller, a little bit mystery, the novel's genre elements are commendably propulsive...Todd's confidence and talents augur a bright future."

— The Washington Post

"That this is Todd's first book bodes well for Australian literature...the writing remains unfailingly engaging and wise. It is also darkly humorous and witty...profound, gentle, clear-eyed."

— Australian Book Review

"[A] lushly detailed debut novel...Sylvia is a compellingly contradictory narrator, drawn to both stability and risk, and Todd places her in an equally complex community...a heady look at the influence of the heavens on a small patch of earth."

— Kirkus

“Ruby Todd's dazzling debut thriller blends astronomy, mystery, and romance in a story about a young widow's obsession with a once-in-a-lifetime comet brightening the sky of her small Australian town. A lesson on how grief can make people jump to extreme beliefs.”

— Entertainment Weekly

“[I]ncredibly moving…Bright Objects is a meditation on grief, trust, belief and justice that brings to mind Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries and Jacqueline Bublitz’s Before You Knew My Name.”

— Books + Publishing

“Todd's debut is at once a soaring epic and a grounded tale, weaving together the consequences of the celestial with the mundane aspects of grief... With graceful, elegant prose that walks the line between ethereal and painfully human.”

— Booklist

"Bright Objects is a riveting literary thriller of obsession, vengeance and astronomy, but its most poignant gift may be its depiction of trying to make sense of life after tragedy."

— Bookpage

“[T]here’s no denying the thrills in a story about a young widow who becomes obsessed with a comet approaching the Earth… Jaws will drop at the revelations”

— Parade

“A novel written with immense grace, beauty, and depth, Bright Objects plumbs the farthest reaches of one widow's grief, ultimately revealing the brilliance of our humanity in the face of immense loss—the will to fight for what's right, the will to hope, and most importantly, the will to love again. A surprising, thrilling, and seductively dangerous comet of a book.”

— Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Madwoman

“Bright Objects is the story of a woman consumed by an unquellable obsession, reduced by solitude and incompleteness, caught in an unconscious embattled conspiracy of her own making. Ruby Todd writes of the strain of fearful events and discoveries, and the fatal inevitability of a sense of guilt when someone close to one is killed, all the while revealing to us the hidden realities that lie in wait for us.”

— Susanna Moore, author of In the Cut

“A literary mystery of consummate elegance and gravity. Bright Objects traces a graceful orbit around the phenomena of human grief and love.”

— Jessica Au, author of Cold Enough for Snow

“The X-Files meets Nick Cave's Ghosteen—science, faith, and human folly collide in this celestial melodrama.”

— Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of The Newcomer and Beautiful Revolutionary

“Bright Objects is a mesmerizing, profound tale of obsession, exploring the need to believe in something and the duty to live in reality. Ruby Todd infuses the novel with almost unbearable tension—it moves toward a breathtaking climax as surely as a comet hurtling toward Earth.”

— Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant

“Gripping, thrilling. An electric story of small towns, big secrets and the last great comet of the millennium.”

— Felicity McLean, author of The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

“I loved Bright Objects. Sylvia is an enormously appealing narrator who offers a thoughtful and nuanced perspective on a world turned on its axis.”

— Polly Stewart, author of The Good Ones