The Brights made a big change from their quiet life in Quakertown to the noisy, big city of Philadelphia. Strong, resilient, and determined to make their way in a changing world, Meissner's characters step off the page and into history.' - Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yoursįrom a small town in Pennsylvania as a family rolling tobacco leaves for a living to Philadelphia as a family living and working in a funeral home. 'From the unthinkable tragedy of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic to the glittering speakeasies of the roaring twenties, Susan Meissner delivers a story of one family's heartbreak and hope. 'With stunning prose and keen detail, Meissner has deftly created a heady mix of love, politics and survival - a family saga, coming of age tale and riveting historical fiction all in one. A must read!' - Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan's Tale Stedman's A Light between the Oceans (2012), another novel set in the postWWI era in which tragedy blurs moral lines.' - Booklist 'A good choice for book groups who read M. Fans of Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and the television show Six Feet Under will enjoy.' - Library Journal Meissner's prose maintains a balanced tone of sorrow throughout this novel. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without-and what they are willing to do about it.Īs Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.

But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew.

Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters - Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa - a chance at a better life.īut just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Bridge Across the Ocean comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love.

Book as bright as heaven