Towards a Brighter Sky

  • Winner of the German Youth Literature Award 2025
  • A WhatsApp novel
  • 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.  


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  • Publisher: Rotfuchs
  • Release: 13.02.2024
  • ISBN: 978-3-7571-0007-0
  • 272 Pages
  • Authors: Sarah Jäger
  • Illustrated by: Sarah Maus
Towards a Brighter Sky
Sarah Jäger Sarah Maus Towards a Brighter Sky
Anna-Lisa Konrad
© Anna-Lisa Konrad
Sarah Jäger

Sarah Jäger studied drama education and still works in this field. She is always on the lookout for novels and stories that hit the head, heart and stomach. Her novel The Night as Big as Us was nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize and the Paul Maar Prize for Young Talents in 2022. In 2025, she won the German Youth Literature Prize for her novel Towards a Brighter Sky ("Und die Welt, sie fliegt hoch").

Sebastian Hartmann
© Sebastian Hartmann
Sarah Maus

Sarah Maus, born in 1995, works as a freelance illustrator and art teacher.

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