A Brighter Flame

A Novel

By: Christine Nolfi

Narrated by: Megan Tusing

She’s always wanted a sense of belonging. The last place she expects to find it is home.

Vale Lightner’s dreams turn to ash when the Pittsburgh bar she owns goes up in flames. Just like the past she escaped, very little seems salvageable. Facing unavoidable change, Vale returns to her hometown of Philadelphia to stay with her grandmother.

She knows that returning also means facing everything she left behind: a mother and stepfather who shunted her into the background from the day they married, and her charmed and favored half sister, Blythe, who has abandoned a perfect marriage and is now at a crossroads of her own. Everyone has their secrets, and this reunited family racked by them is about to reach a crisis point.

For a mother and her two daughters, this reunion is a chance for closure, newfound love, and forgiveness. As each of them reassesses her own memories of the past, only the truth can bring them together—in ways that could last forever. From the bestselling author of The Passing Storm comes a poignant novel about family secrets, healing, and the hope of second chances.

©2022 Christine Nolfi (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“I devoured this book in one sitting. An uplifting novel which explores how misconceptions and half-truths can taint even that closest of relationships—the one with our own family. Nolfi draws us into this complicated family drama and doesn’t let us go until the story reaches its intense and captivating climax.”—Imogen Clark, million-copy bestselling author of Impossible to Forget

“A Brighter Flame is a deeply touching and uplifting novel that explores the troubled history and buried secrets of a family torn apart long ago. The book captured my heart and drew tears as I was reminded that it’s never too late to heal.”—Boo Walker, bestselling author of A Spanish Sunrise

“In this layered family drama, Nolfi explores the unreliability of memories and how inaccurate perceptions of past events impact the present. As estranged sisters Vale and Blythe uncover a clearer picture of their childhood and the circumstances that shaped their contentious relationship, understanding and forgiveness blossom, bearing the fruit of previously unimagined acts of generosity and love. A story that is sure to keep book clubs talking late into the night.”—Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of Improbably Yours

great book and story

A Brighter Flame is a story full of secrets, lies, and miss understandings that lead to the definite separation of a family that makes a big reef between sisters and even with her own mother casting her aside and making her feel all her life like a pest thinking always the other parent were the evil one when it was not.

Vale returns to her past after she and her father lost what seemed to be the life for both of them, she didn't expect to find any back stories or redemption while she was helping her grandmother but life has a funny way of bringing things from the past to make you aware how wrong you were or to bring the truth to the surface to finally make peace with your family and yourself.

A complicated family drama that will have you in your seat, not knowing what will happen next and mostly seeing how the main character fights to recover what she lost by lies, mistakes, and past agendas that only brought many tears and sadness.

Vale was a great character I really felt like she had the opportunity to redeem what she lost and finally make peace with herself and her sister and family in general.

Great book and story.

The narrations by Megan Tusing were as always amazing I really love her voice and always what she brings to the story and the characters.

loved it

I really enjoyed reading this author.  I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.

great read

I really liked the narrator. It was enjoyable to get in my car everyday when going to work and coming home to listen to this great story. Highly recommend.

Enjoyable

This book took me by surprise. I didn't put it down until I was finished.

Sweet story

The story was quite relatable to me, as a child, now adult, of a broken family with selfish parents. I found it heartwarming for these characters to forge together something as adults that was never fostered by their parents. It’s a light read, overall, and found the story to be enjoyable.