The Bright Hour

A Memoir of Living and Dying

By: Nina Riggs, Kirby Heyborne

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

* INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *

“Stunning…heartrending…this year’s When Breath Becomes Air.” —Nora Krug, The Washington Post

“Beautiful and haunting.” —Matt McCarthy, MD, USA TODAY

“Vivid, immediate.” —Laura Collins-Hughes, The Boston Globe

The New York Times bestseller by poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, is “a stunning…heart-rending meditation on life…It is this year’s When Breath Becomes Air” (The Washington Post).

We are breathless but we love the days. They are promises. They are the only way to walk from one night to the other.

Poet and essayist Nina Riggs was just thirty-seven years old when initially diagnosed with breast cancer—one small spot. Within a year, she received the devastating news that her cancer was terminal.

How does a dying person learn to live each day “unattached to outcome”? How does one approach the moments, big and small, with both love and honesty? How does a young mother and wife prepare her two young children and adored husband for a loss that will shape the rest of their lives? How do we want to be remembered?

Exploring motherhood, marriage, friendship, and memory, Nina asks: What makes a meaningful life when one has limited time? “Profound and poignant” (Oprah Daily), The Bright Hour is about how to make the most of all the days, even the painful ones. It’s about the way literature, especially Nina’s direct ancestor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and her other muse, Montaigne, can be a balm and a form of prayer.

Brilliantly written and exceptionally moving, it’s a “deeply affecting memoir, a simultaneously heartbreaking and funny account of living with loss and the specter of death. As Riggs lyrically, unflinchingly details her reality, she finds beauty and truth that comfort even amid the crushing sadness” (People).

Tender and heartwarming, The Bright Hour “is a gentle reminder to cherish each day” (Entertainment Weekly) and offers us this important perspective: “You can read a multitude books about how to die, but Riggs, a dying woman, will show you how to live” (The New York Times Book Review).

Hard copy please

The amateur narration really took the life out of the potent writing so evident when I read Nina Rigg’s blog. Still the collection of essays which Rigg’s infused with poetry deserve to reach the widest audience, so listen if you must, read if you can.

Caring

The first thing I need to say is this is not always an easy "read". There were breaks for tissues on my part, and one or two days when I couldn't turn it on. That being said it was interlaced with the humor and caring of day-by-day living. A family with small children, grandparents, friends, trying to live honestly and with hope. And, it is important to mention, this book is superbly written. My heart goes to all of them. They will enable each other to survive.

Never wanted it to end

Have never written a review despite listening to many excellent books but Nina Riggs memoir is among the very best. The reader swept me away allowing me to imagine fully the magnitude of who Nina was and how sorely missed she will be. A life well lived despite it’s brevity

Beautifully sad.

I wished it would never end. Poignant and relatable in a way that makes you feel the push and pull of Nina's impossible goodbye.

Powerful emotional writing

The imagery she evoked through her writing was so beautiful. Not sure how someone so sick could write a book like this. We have all lost a brilliant writer and caring person.