Towards a Brighter Sky

• A WhatsApp novel by successful author Sarah Jäger
• Developing friendship between two teenagers confined to their rooms for different reasons
• Text cleverly supplemented by illustrations by Sarah Maus

"I always believed that there was no one there except for me."

Summer holidays! Everyone is outside, sitting in an ice cream parlour or relaxing by the lake. Only fourteen-year-old Yuri stays at home, because Yuri's favourite place is his room - it's where he feels safe. Just two weeks before school starts, he receives a message from Ava. The two know each other from primary school and haven't heard from each other in years. Ava would love to be at the outdoor pool with other people. But Ava is grounded. "Because of this thing," she says. They start up a conversation via text and voice messages, and although the two couldn't be more different, bit by bit they open up to each other. Light topics like their favourite ice cream or their worst birthdays are soon followed by their first confessions about little secrets and big fears. Until Ava's wild stories begin to shake the trust they have just started to build.