We’ll Fly Away

Longlist, National Book Awards 2018 for Young People's Literature

We’ll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss, book cover
ISBN 9780062494276
Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers
Bryan Bliss author photo: credit Dawn Goei
Bryan Bliss

Bryan Bliss is the author of We’ll Fly Away, Meet Me Here, and No Parking at the End Times. He holds master’s degrees in theology and fiction and works as a curriculum designer and developer. More about this author >

Award Years

Award Status

Award Categories

Uniquely told through letters from death row and third-person narrative, Bryan Bliss’s hard-hitting third novel expertly unravels the string of events that landed a teenager in jail. Luke feels like he’s been looking after Toby his entire life. He patches Toby up when Toby’s father, a drunk and a petty criminal, beats on him, he gives him a place to stay, and he diffuses the situation at school when wise-cracking Toby inevitably gets into fights. Someday, Luke and Toby will leave this small town, riding the tails of Luke’s wrestling scholarship, and never look back.

But during their senior year, they begin to drift apart. Luke is dealing with his unreliable mother and her new boyfriend. And Toby unwittingly begins to get drawn into his father’s world, and falls for an older woman. All their long-held dreams seem to be unraveling. Tense and emotional, this heartbreaking novel explores family, abuse, sex, love, friendship, and the lengths a person will go to protect the people they love.

Top
X