In 1918, Philadelphia overflowed with the promise of an exciting and progressive urban environment. Although the Great War took away some of its youngest and bravest,  opportunities could be found on every corner, every cobblestone street. Pauline Bright and her husband came to this busy city filled with the hope that they would offer their three daughters --- Evelyn, Maggie and Willa --- a much better life than they had had growing up.

However, within months of settling in, the Spanish Flu attacks the United States. As the pandemic claims more than 12,000 Philadelphians, the Brights are left with a world that looks nothing like the one in which they had found so much excitement. Loss and fear find them, but amidst the tragedy and challenges, they decide to take in a new family member, an orphaned baby. And, with that new life, the Brights find the real opportunity for happiness for which they came to Philadelphia in the first place.

"Susan Meissner weaves a tale that explores a difficult time in American history told through the very real, emotionally resonant endurance and bravery of beautifully drawn characters."

Author Susan Meissner weaves a tale that explores a difficult time in American history told through the very real, emotionally resonant endurance and bravery of beautifully drawn characters. Pauline and her daughters allow Meissner a chance to look at what really ties mothers and daughters together --- how one generation learns from and enriches another, old to young and vice versa. The lessons that the baby forces the Bright family to learn give Meissner a nuanced palate on which to draw a compelling and memorable dramatic journey for her readers.

“I had no idea the gap between earth and heaven is narrow, no wider than a jump over a brook. I’d always thought heaven was so far from the living, no one could measure its distance from earth. Even the wisest person ever born couldn’t look up at the night sky through the most powerful telescope and catch a glimpse of heaven --- it was that far off.” Pauline’s introspection and her fearlessness in the face of so much turmoil is a heart-stirring portrait of a mother who must suffer loss in order to grasp fully what love really means. In her life as a woman in a changing time, during a tragic period of history, Pauline’s stoic heart gives the book a depth that makes it a searing picture of all women’s journeys in the 20th century. So much outward change could not diminish the love and bravery of American women like Pauline.

In these times, when the world feels as if it is turning everyone on their heads and back again in the blink of an eye, AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN stands out as a compelling story of a mother and her daughters who maintain resolve and face life like Wonder Women. When the reader feels as if the world outside is too much, Pauline and her daughters can provide an emotional kick that reminds us all that we are stronger than our circumstances and that the American woman has been always a resilient and unstoppable force.