Amazing, Touching, Beautifully Written Historical Fiction
Starting in 1918 As Bright As Heaven follows a family of five as they learn to navigate the city, loss, and heartbreak. It takes the simple idea of the Spanish influenza epidemic and weaves it into a story that enraptures you from the first chapter.
In the first chapter you feel the sadness and loss of a of a mother who has given up hope by losing a child. From there the mother, Pauline, most learn to live with death hovering around her. Trying to escape this feeling she agrees to move to Chicago where the family is given more than they asked for.
The book also follows the three daughters as they learn to grow up, fall in love, and follow their own dreams. From them you learn the consequences of lying, how you have to fight for what you want, and how you can get through even the hardest moments.
Surviving the epidemic only further shows this family's will to live even with pain and loss in their past. Then with the start and end of the war, you learn about how a soldier changes going through an experience like that. Also how any person changes going through a hard experience, and sometimes only time can heal someone.
The story weaves description and history into one, sucking you in until the last word. The author presents information in a through but not overwhelming way, allowing you to experience the story at its fullest.
In the first chapter you feel the sadness and loss of a of a mother who has given up hope by losing a child. From there the mother, Pauline, most learn to live with death hovering around her. Trying to escape this feeling she agrees to move to Chicago where the family is given more than they asked for.
The book also follows the three daughters as they learn to grow up, fall in love, and follow their own dreams. From them you learn the consequences of lying, how you have to fight for what you want, and how you can get through even the hardest moments.
Surviving the epidemic only further shows this family's will to live even with pain and loss in their past. Then with the start and end of the war, you learn about how a soldier changes going through an experience like that. Also how any person changes going through a hard experience, and sometimes only time can heal someone.
The story weaves description and history into one, sucking you in until the last word. The author presents information in a through but not overwhelming way, allowing you to experience the story at its fullest.