The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals

“With heart, precision, and a fresh, resilient humor, The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals reveals the complicated connections between people and animals alike… . Mandelbaum is wise beyond her years and twice as talented.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted and Cowboys Are My Weakness“A story of reconciliation and forgiveness (and so many animals!) in the assured hand of a writer who understands that the hardest journeys we undertake are the ones in search of home.” —Steven Rowley, bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor“Mandelbaum’s heartwarming and sharp-witted debut features an estranged mother and daughter better at connecting with injured and abandoned animals than with each other… In Mandelbaum’s bighearted, emotionally intelligent tale, the love for animals proves irresistible.“—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Attention animal lovers, nature lovers, literary lovers—the Flannery O’Connor Award-winning author Becky Mandelbaum has written a book just for you. The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals is characterized by love the size of the Kansas sky, an indelible attachment to home, and enough dogs to comfort you through the complexities of a Trump administration.” — Chicago Review of Books“Warm-hearted…[A] tale of misplaced feelings and misunderstood souls that is chiefly characterized by home, irresistible animals, and the forgiving of old rifts. Mothers and daughters reunite, and dogs seal the deal, in a feel-good charmer.” — Kirkus Reviews “This first novel is finely rendered, lightly dashed with humor, and littered with lots of animals.” — Booklist “Witty and original.” — The National Book Review

Becky Mandelbaum is the author of Bad Kansas, winner of the 2016 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and the 2018 High Plains Book Award for First Book. Her work has appeared in One Story, The Sun, The Missouri Review, The Georgia Review, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and has been featured on Medium. She has received fellowships from Writing by Writers, a residency from The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and has taught at Seattle’s Hugo House. Originally from Kansas, she currently lives in Washington State. The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals is her first novel.

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