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![The Brighter the Light by [Mary Ellen Taylor]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51f1ybrH0PS._SY346_.jpg)
The Brighter the Light Kindle Edition
Mary Ellen Taylor (Author) See search results for this author |
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From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes an evocative dual-timeline novel detailing one woman’s journey to discover the hidden stories of her family’s seaside resort.
When a shipwreck surfaces, old secrets are sure to follow.
Or so goes the lore in Ivy Neale’s hometown of Nags Head, North Carolina. When Ivy inherits her family’s beachfront cottage upon her grandmother’s death, she knows returning to Nags Head means facing the best friend and the boyfriend who betrayed her years ago.
But then a winter gale uncovers the shipwreck of local legend—and Ivy soon begins to stumble across more skeletons in the closet than just her own. Amid the cottage’s clutter are clues from her grandmother’s past at the enchanting seaside resort her family once owned. One fateful summer in 1950, the arrival of a dazzling singer shook the staff and guests alike—and not everyone made it to fall.
As Ivy contends with broken relationships and a burgeoning romance in the present, the past threatens to sweep her away. But as she uncovers the strength of her grandmother and the women who came before her, she realizes she is like the legendary shipwreck: the sands may shift around her, but she has found her home here by the sea.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMontlake
- Publication date1 July 2022
- File size6527 KB
Product description
From the Publisher
Mary Ellen Taylor’s The Brighter the Light depicts the tragedies, secrets, and triumphs across three generations of women in a coastal town in North Carolina. The captivating dual timelines—from present day to one summer in the 1950s—capture in vivid Technicolor the sweltering, sun-soaked summers at the shore. The enchanting songs, red lipsticks, crisp linen dresses, hot sandy beaches, and the sacrifices mothers will make for their daughters. A hurricane churning up the coast whips up sand, water, and secrets, and like the shipwreck just offshore, old events are revealed and cast in bright new light.
Grab a beach towel, a park bench, or a cozy armchair—wherever you’ll be most comfortable—and prepare to be transported and transfixed by Mary Ellen Taylor’s sweeping tale of love, sacrifice, and seaside reverie.
—Alison Dasho, Editor
About the Author
A southerner by birth, Mary Ellen Taylor has a love for her home state of Virginia that is evident in her contemporary women’s fiction. When she’s not writing, she spends time baking, hiking, and spoiling her miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella, and Tiki.
Product details
- ASIN : B0998WPHDS
- Publisher : Montlake (1 July 2022)
- Language : English
- File size : 6527 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 360 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1542032598
- Best Sellers Rank: 4,736 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 26 in U.S. Historical Fiction
- 128 in Women's Sagas
- 161 in Women's Historical Fiction
- Customer reviews:
About the author

A southerner by birth, Mary Ellen Taylor’s love of her home state, Virginia, and its past is evident in her contemporary women's fiction, from her first The Union Street Bakery, set in Alexandria, to her latest, Spring House, which takes place on the state’s Eastern Shore. In Spring Cottage and prior novels, Mary Ellen’s protagonists search for their place in the world. They explore issues of family, home and belonging, and their stories entwine with those of the locales in which they unfold, encompassing mysteries past and present.
Richmond born, Mary Ellen has lived there most of her life. She grew up in a family that appreciates stories of all kinds, from a well-told anecdote to a good yarn or a tall tale. Perhaps it was inevitable that she would embrace her storytelling heritage, walk away from her marketing job and challenge herself to become a published author.
"I realized early on the tremendous power stories have to inspire laughter, love, sorrow and even fear. It didn't matter if they were found in the pages of a book, spoken in hushed tones around a campfire, or shared at an old-fashioned family reunion. Stories create connections, and I knew that was what I wanted to do," says Mary Ellen.
Alongside writing, cooking and baking are important creative outlets for Mary Ellen, who's been known to name recipes in honor of her characters. Just a few years ago, she earned her Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate at the University of Richmond's Culinary Arts Program. "In some ways, I liken baking to my efforts as a writer. You need to learn the basic tools of the trade before you can push the limits and create a distinctive sweet dessert or savory novel.”
Her two passions —writing and baking—merged for the first time in The Union Street Bakery. Since then, she's shared favorite recipes, connected to her books Sweet Expectations, At the Corner of King Street, The View from Prince Street, Winter Cottage and Spring House.
Mary Ellen is also known nationally as New York Times and USA Today bestselling suspense novelist Mary Burton. Together, they have published thirty-eight novels, with Mary Burton’s latest, I See You, debuting October 2019.
When not traveling or holed up writing, Mary Ellen spends time with her husband enjoying their empty nest and spoiling their miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella and Tiki.
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The story follows Ruth in 1950 and Ivy in 2020.
Ivy returns to Outer Banks, North Carolina, after her grandma (Ruth) has died to settle her affairs.
She finds herself looking into her family history, trying to find answers through the things Ruth left behind.
The 1950 timeline explains what happened, mainly through Ruth's viewpoint, whilst the 2020 features Ivy living her life as she discovers all of the family secrets that she wished she could have heard directly from Ruth.
The story is very well written, well-paced and a joy to read. I had to finish it as soon as I could.
It doesn't feature sex scenes - it's acknowledged that some characters have had sex, but you're not given any description of the act - I appreciate too much information puts off some readers.
There's some bad language, but it's infrequent.
✳️Important✳️
There's something at the end of the book that explains things, if you've had trouble getting your head around the revelations. However, please don't read it until you have finished the book, as it will spoil the unfolding story.
I received this book free as part of Amazon First Reads
A lovely cover on my copy.....it is a pretty good story but take it from me, you need to REALLY concentrate as there are a lot of characters and differing timelines and trying to figure out who was related to who and remembering who lived where in which timeline is hard work, so you do have to pay attention. I did and still had to flick back 'n' forth quite a few times to remember who was who and who they were married to, etc....Also, some secrets never did get resolved, which I guess you can choose to do yourself, but I'd prefer the author tied up all the loose ends.
But the errors I happened upon really should have been tidied up by any decent editor. She writes french not French, more than once, venders not vendors (my gasping moment) and cord not chord.
She wrote about a rearview mirror in a car catching a nervous smile but the other person wasn't sitting in the back, as all their worldly possessions were there, we were already told. The dialogue on the same car journey from a 4 year old didn't ring true, either. I don't have kids but I don't know any child that young who is that voluble but makes sense !! A couple of characters, such as Ivy's mum, didn't even get a namecheck till we were quite a ways in (255 pages), which also irritated me a little.
I needed to Google sticker shock as I'd not heard of it. It sounds a lovely area, the Outer Banks and she certainly described it well to us and took us along for the ride. The sea-wreck was fascinating, in that it often disappeared for decades. We have one on my local beach but it only disappears beneath a high tide, and is always there at low !!
I think I'd read another by her but not again if I happened upon howlers like I saw here.