The Bright Years
A National Bestseller
One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they’re unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this family saga perfect for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo.
“Outstanding...through Damoff’s beautiful, at times almost poetic narrative, we see hope through the darkness, and how love—and forgiveness—can make us whole.” —Elle
Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.
When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.
Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life, debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love.
One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they’re unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this family saga perfect for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo.
“Outstanding...through Damoff’s beautiful, at times almost poetic narrative, we see hope through the darkness, and how love—and forgiveness—can make us whole.” —Elle
Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.
When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.
Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life, debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love.
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Community Reviews
The Bright Years
A tender and emotional story about grief, love, and moving forward. There’s a moment about halfway through that truly surprised me—and made the story even more impactful. Some parts felt like they could have used a little more depth, but overall, I found it heartfelt and memorable. A quiet, beautiful read.
"𝐓𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞."
The Bright Years...you ever see a scene at an open mic night, or talent show where some nerdy person gets on the stage and when they start singing, everyone's stunned by the powerful sounds they hear? Well, that's my feeling about the Bright Years.
I was not at all prepared for this slow burn, Texas style family saga to wreck me in the best possible way. A quiet storm. Stories like this are what my heart longs for.
Towards the end, I cried a good number of times with the characters' reflections on inward battles of guilt, shame and grief. This family was wounded and imperfect, this story exemplified how life transpires, how we live, experience, love and die. But even while gone your light continues shining through those you've touched and loved.
I've read my share of deeply tragic and emotional reads and never seem to shed any tears. But this book was heavy, without even trying to be. I just felt a sense of connection to each of the characters and I empathize with their pain, shame, guilt and regrets. If I were grieving or facing difficult times I'd want to have this book with me to get through my toughest moments because I feel that I would get strength and comfort from their hurt and push to somehow keep trying to move forward with new beginnings.
If you're in the mood for a touching, deeply sentimental story of love and loss then this is THEE one for you!
Quotes that I loved:
"Maybe we all still focus on the wrong things even if we can go back in time....I wonder how far forward we'd need to go to know what we should've done differently."
"Mercy isn't a one time event..."
"Risks go this way sometimes, every bit as awful as we feared."
"I grasp for control in an out of control life"
"So much can be lost and still....so much remains."
"...the sun shines on the other side of the world when it's night on our side. So, somewhere else there's sunshine even though I can't see it from here."
Let's just call my booksta break the "bright weeks". I was more connected to my reads without the rush to post about it. Thanks @novellisa22 for a great chat!
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