The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Most of my favorite books in the last few years have been family epics—stories covering generations and years inside one family as they fall in love, fall out of love, live, die, laugh, and cry. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane and Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano are perfect examples. Well, Sarah Damoff's "The Bright Years" is also on that shelf.

Lillian and Ryan meet in a library, where Ryan recognizes Lillian from her job at the bank. Their first date is that same day at a Greek restaurant, lasting for hours. Soon, they fall deeper and deeper in love and marry. Next, Georgette "Jet" Bright is born, and the world changes.

Told by Lillian, Jet, and Ryan, the Bright family's story follows them from the 1970s to the present day. Despite its short length, this isn't an easy read. Damoff doesn't waste space with useless words, but parts of the Bright family story are hard to read. There is deep anger and resentment, as well as deep love and hope.

The Bright family story is modern, not looking back with rose-colored glasses. It deals with heavy topics (adoption, alcoholism, death), but these are topics that families have to deal with and should be talked about more.

This is a debut novel, and it reads like it's from an old master at fiction. I highly recommend this book and can not wait to see what Sarah Damoff does next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.