The Bright Years

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

"Sarah Damoff's debut novel, The Bright Years, carries the sensitivity and knowledge of her years of experience as a social worker...Damoff's careful approach to depicting alcoholism, and her expressions of what it means to love (and be loved) amidst the wreckage of addiction, set this tender novel apart."..-Elle

"To attempt to tell a convincing love story at this late stage in the history of the novel is to set the bar ambitiously high, and yet Sarah Damoff somehow pulls it off twice in a single book, penning two thoroughly persuasive, interrelated relationship histories, each with appealing texture and depth...The Bright Years builds symphonically, polyphonically, reaching emotional crescendos and gliding into perfectly calibrated decrescendos that mimic the rhythms of real life."-Lit Hub

"In Damoff's heartfelt debut, which spans four generations, the impact of addiction is threaded tightly into a family's story. The novel examines the joys and sorrows of Lillian Bright and addresses a timeless theme: how alcohol decides what to destroy and what to leave alone."-People

"The Bright Years is more than just a good novel. It is so masterfully constructed and so sensitively, satisfyingly written that one finds it hard to believe it is a first novel. It contains all the realism of everyday life for millions of everyday people: passionate romance, betrayal, abandonment, suvival and overcoming the odds. It's a family saga filled with heart and hope, pain and joy, love and grief."-Dallas Morning News

"The Bright Years is a dazzling, true-to-life depiction of adoration and damage, and the lovely ache of living as the pendulum swings between them."-Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"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."-BookReporter

"Tender and heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful...will make the reader feel like they are actually living through it alongside the characters."-Booklist (starred review)

"Social worker Damoff's heartfelt debut focuses on the impact of alcohol addiction on a family over four generations...This family drama rings true."-Publishers Weekly

"This novel sparkles in its sentences, its texture, its big heart-THE BRIGHT YEARS is a vivid, forthright, and gorgeously written story of love in its many iterations." -CLAIRE LOMBARDO, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had and Same as it Ever Was

"THE BRIGHT YEARS is a moving portrait of inheritance and loss. A heart-breaker and heart-mender at once, this is a story that forces us to confront our vulnerabilities and secrets in order to find our strength and truth. A stunning debut!"-TAYARI JONES, author of An American Marriage