The Bright Years
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- ¥1,900
発行者による作品情報
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.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Social worker Damoff's heartfelt debut focuses on the impact of alcohol addiction on a family over four generations. In 1979 Fort Worth, Tex., 20-something bank teller Lillian Wright meets artist Ryan Brighton. Ryan proposes after a three-year courtship, during which Lillian learns little about his family, and she accepts. Eventually, Ryan reveals that his alcoholic father was physically abusive, but Lillian never imagines Ryan might follow in his footsteps, even as his drinking worsens. After a crushing miscarriage, Lillian gives birth to their daughter, Georgette, and reveals to Ryan that before they met, she had a son and gave him up for adoption. In chapters from Lillian's and Georgette's alternating points of view, Lillian struggles to accept that no matter how many chances she gives her husband, he won't choose family over liquor, while Georgette learns her father can't be counted on. Though Ryan tries sporadically throughout his daughter's young life to be there for her, Georgette remains ambivalent toward him after she grows up. Late in the novel, the reader hears the story from Ryan's point of view in letters to his granddaughter, a delayed attempt at character development that feels a bit too sentimental. Still, the author elicits empathy for all the ravaged characters. This family drama rings true.
