A fearless and vibrantly written memoir of motherhood, marriage, loss, life and death.
Nina Riggs received her MFA in poetry in 2004 and published a book of poems, Lucky, Lucky, in 2009. She wrote about life with metastatic breast cancer on her blog, Suspicious Country; her recent work appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Times. She lived with her husband and sons and dogs in Greensboro, North Carolina.
"Stunning...heartrending...this year's When Breath Becomes Air." -- Nora Krug 'Gorgeous and brave, Nina Riggs's memoir explodes with life and insight even amid ruin-with lines so poetic they knocked the wind out of me. It's heartbreaking, funny, clear-eyed, and entirely devoid of cliche. This book is her hard-won treasure, and ours.' -- Dr. Lucy Kalanithi "Beautiful and haunting." -- Matt McCarthy Starred reviews from * Kirkus Reviews * Publishers Weekly * Library Journal * Most Anticipated Summer Reading Selection by * The Washington Post * Glamour * The Seattle Times * InStyle.com * Bookpage.com * Bookriot.com * Real Simple * The Atlanta Journal-Constitution * 'How a woman can have this much emotional clarity and narrative power while fighting for her life should astonish every last one of us. Magical. Unforgettable.' -- Kelly Corrigan 'Once I started this book, I couldn't stop reading. Profound, absorbing, and often even funny, Nina Riggs's memoir of living and dying is a meditation on life, family, and how to cram every day of our existence with what we love-no matter how much time we have left. Brilliant and illuminating.' -- Gretchen Rubin 'Nina Riggs writes gorgeously and with astonishing clarity about her own terminal illness, about losing her mother, about her marriage and her children, about books that have guided her, and also about the often comical challenges of daily life as a busy parent. Riggs never shies away from describing the terrible sadness and messiness of her own dying, but also manages to suffuse this book with a miraculous blend of light and joy. This is an emotional journey told with raw honesty and also a sly sense of humour. The Bright Hour is an instant classic that deserves to be read by everyone who loved When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Being Mortal by Atul Guwande. Like those, here is a book about dying that has powerful lessons for everyone about how to live.' -- Will Schwalbe 'Nina Riggs could have written a memoir about dying. Instead, she has given us a book exploding with life. Every page of The Bright Hour ("bright" the operative word here) is filled with the mysterious, messy, funny, heartbreaking stuff that only happens in the most loving of families. Clearly, hers is one. Writing with frank and exquisite honesty and a striking absence of sentimentality or self-pity in the final days of a terminal struggle, she explores everything from her children's choice of Halloween costumes and her own, of a new sofa, to the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Montaigne. Though no doubt challenged by constant physical depletion and grief-a fact of her illness she chooses not to dwell on-Riggs emerges as a character whose ultimate victory will not take the form of beating cancer, but of refusing to allow cancer to destroy her life-embracing spirit. As she allows us into her world of wig shopping and heart to heart conversations with her boys, it becomes impossible not to love this woman (also her quirky, tenderly rendered sons, and her quietly suffering husband, whose future remarriage she allows herself to envision). The tragedy of Riggs's illness and impending death hangs over every page, but in the end, this is a book not about crushing loss but about the richness of love and its power to uplift and sustain us. What a gift she has given to her family, and to any reader of this beautiful book.' -- Joyce Maynard 'A luminous, heartbreaking symphony of wit, wisdom, pain, parenting and perseverance against insurmountable odds.' Kirkus Reviews, starred review 'Riggs reminds us that we are all in this world until we leave it; the gallows humor surrounding her mother's funeral will make readers howl guiltily but appreciatively. Whether confronting disease or not, everyone should read this beautifully crafted book as it imbues life and loved ones with a particularly transcendent glow.' Library Journal, starred review "Deeply affecting...simultaneously heartbreaking and funny." (Book of the Week) 'How a woman can have this much emotional clarity and narrative power while fighting for her life should astonish every last one of us. Magical. Unforgettable.' -- Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place and Glitter and Glue 'Cancer might have taken Nina Riggs's life, but it never once vanquished her: in this brave and beautiful book she lives on. Knowing that she died not long after completing it is such a wrench to the heart-yet what an amazing gift she has left behind for her readers.' Debra Adelaide "Vivid, immediate." -- Laura Collins-Hughes The Boston Globe
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