The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff is one of the best books I’ve read in 2026.
Sometimes a book hits you so hard in a way you didn’t even know was possible. For me, one of those books is The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. All I had seen online were absolutely glowing reviews for this debut novel, and I can confirm that it did not disappoint.
Buy it here.
The Bright Years follows Texas-born couple Ryan and Lillian Bright. The pair are deeply in love and happily married after years together. However, unbeknownst to them, they are keeping devastating secrets from one another.
Lillian has a secret son that she gave up for adoption years ago. Ryan is hiding an increasingly worsening addiction to alcohol. Stuck between tension and secrets is their daughter, Georgette, who grows up amidst the rise and fall of the couple’s marriage. The novel spans four generations of the Bright family, starting in 1958 and ending in 2019.
The Bright Years is told from three intimate but distinctive points of view, telling the story of a generational family drama with addiction, secrets, grief, and healing.
I absolutely devoured this novel. Sarah Damoff’s writing style is filled with emotional quotes, beautiful prose, and devastatingly real characters. She has this brilliant skill in creating characters who are completely brought to life, with real personalities and heartbreaking flaws.
At its heart, this story is also a love letter to found families. The Bright Years hosts a wonderful cast of side characters, whose friendships with the Bright family were one of my favourite aspects throughout the book. Sarah Damoff’s characters show that your family can be made up of your blood relatives – but can also include the people you choose as your own.
If you’re looking for an emotional, heartbreaking read about both love and loss, you need to pick this one up.
Luckily, The Bright Years is currently on sale for just €1.15 on Kindle. You can buy it here.
What is The Bright Years about?
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.
You can buy The Bright Years here.
