THE BRIGHT YEARS
Coming April 22, 2025
Available Now for Pre-Order
One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A big-hearted family saga about the enduring bonds of love, 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 the 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 novel that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace. Throughout the years, their story unspools, and it is one of secrecy and denial, truth and revelation, regret and redemption, inheritance and legacy.
Praise for The Bright Years
"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, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage
“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, delivering two thoroughly persuasive, interrelated relationship histories, each with appealing texture and depth, one believable because of the pain it captures, the other a balm in the hope it implies. The Bright Years builds symphonically, polyphonically, reaching emotional crescendos and gliding into perfectly calibrated decrescendos that mimic the rhythms of real life. This ever-expanding family redefines itself at every turn, taking on people like a lifeboat saving souls, and one invests oneself in every turn these combined fates take. In its nuanced understanding of the psyche and its unsparing realism about human limitations even in the face of our desperate attempts to overcome them, this book, when it opens its sails to gale forces of feeling, leads one to shed one’s sophistication and openly root for love, to cheer for it, to even shed a tear for it, as Damoff sticks the landing and at long last it comes.” -MATTHEW THOMAS, New York Times-bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves
“How many ways can one book break your heart? You will find out while reading THE BRIGHT YEARS. This is a beautifully complex story of love, loss, healing, and grieving in all its forms, which will leave readers emotionally wrung out in the best of ways. This will be one of the top books of the year. Unbelievable that this is a debut - making author Sarah Damoff one to watch.” -MARY WEBBER O’MALLEY, Skylark Bookshop
“THE BRIGHT YEARS is a staggering work of family drama. Relationships are complicated and family members are often not connected by blood, rather by love and proximity. Some of Sarah Damoff’s characters are deeply flawed, yet she makes them so relatable that readers will be heavily invested in their happiness. Alcohol and tragedy try to tear this family apart - but the ties of love are stronger. Prepare to be dazzled by this bright debut.” -PAMELA KLINGER-HORN, Valley Bookseller
“Compelling, compassionate, and full of grace—Sarah Damoff’s The Bright Years is an assured debut about the bonds of family, the stranglehold of addiction, the miracles of love and forgiveness, and the beauty of an ordinary life. A bonus: it’s so thoroughly Texan that it calls to mind Richard Linklater, Friday Night Lights, and even the great Larry McMurtry.” —EMILIE SOMMER, East City Bookshop
“Like all great books, The Bright Years will leave you with deep feelings of compassion and insight for the inevitable love and suffering we must all go through in order to fully live.” -SIMON VAN BOOY, author of Sipsworth
“In THE BRIGHT YEARS, Sarah Damoff paints a loving portrait of a Texas family shadowed by the power of addiction. The journeys of Lillian, Jet and Ryan Bright are in all ways tender, tragic and triumphant and left me rooting for each character until the very end. A beautiful debut.”–AMANDA CHURCHILL, author of The Turtle House
“THE BRIGHT YEARS gutted me. And I loved every minute of it. It’s an incredibly moving, profound family saga that will stick with me for a very, very long time.” -VALERIE KOEHLER, Blue Willow Bookshop
“An unwavering exploration of the complexities of familial relationships. As secrets unravel and wounds are laid bare, the novel poignantly illustrates the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of love and forgiveness. Fans of Ann Patchett will find much to love in Damoff’s luminous storytelling and richly drawn characters.” -ABBY FLETCHER, Buy the Book
“I was completely engrossed in this family drama that spans decades and four generations. Filled with grief and sadness but also forgiveness and love, the characters will stick with me for a very long time. Damoff is a new talent to watch!” -ELIZABETH BARNHILL, Fabled Bookshop
“A compassionate, insightful, and honest debut. Damoff's multigenerational story of a family navigating the complexities of grief, anger, shame, and love is a testament to the power of hope and forgiveness.” –ALYSSA RAYMOND, Copper Dog Books
“At the end of the book, tears were running down my face. Not because it is sad, but because it is so beautiful. The Bright Years tackles a very common problem that you don’t see in novels that much. This author portrayed alcoholism and its effect on the family brilliantly. I have some issues with this in my own family, and I have seen all this, but I didn’t understand it very well until I read The Bright Years. The Bright Years exemplifies a great literary novel. Literary readers will love this novel. It will be a wonderful book club choice.” —ROXANNE LANEY, Arts & Letters Bookstore
“Once I started, I couldn’t stop reading this big, family drama—full of all things that make up an unforgettable story—sorrow, regret, forgiveness and ultimately love in all it’s complicated forms. Hard to believe this is a debut—Sarah Damoff writes like she’s been doing it for years.” —JULIE SLAVINSKY, Warwicks