When We Were Bright and Beautiful
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Marin Ireland
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Written by:
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Jillian Medoff
About this listen
“Two parts Gone Girl, two parts Notes on a Scandal. . .will play with your expectations about who’s the villain and who’s the victim.” — Jennifer Weiner, USA Today
Longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize for Fiction
The acclaimed, bestselling author of This Could Hurt returns with her biggest, boldest novel yet—an electrifying, twisty, and deeply emotional family drama, set on Manhattan’s glittering Upper East Side, that explores the dark side of love, the limits of loyalty, and the high cost of truth.
You can have everything, and still not have enough.
Cassie Quinn may only be twenty-three, but she knows a few things. One: money can’t buy happiness, but it’s certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother Billy is not a rapist.
When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie races home to Manhattan to join forces with her big brother Nate and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile—white, athletic, and privileged—that makes headlines and sways juries.
Meanwhile, Cassie struggles to understand why Billy’s ex Diana would go this far, even if the breakup was painful. And she knows how the end of first love can destroy someone: Her own years-long affair with a powerful, charismatic man left her shattered, and she’s only recently regained her footing.
As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, the Quinns gird themselves for a media-saturated trial, and Cassie vows she’ll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?
Lightning-paced and psychologically astute as it rockets toward an explosive ending, When We Were Bright and Beautiful is a dazzling novel that asks: who will pay the price when the truth is revealed?
©2022 Jillian Medoff (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about When We Were Bright and Beautiful
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Carol Anne Shaw
- 2023-10-14
A Timely, but Difficult Listen
I knew nothing about this book going in, but I got the audiobook and BOOM. I was hooked. Impeccable performance by the ridiculously talented Marin Ireland, and a gripping, disturbing story from Jillian Medoff about consent, elitism, and privilege, with a very twisty, uncomfortable turn inside the #metoo conversation. It was a difficult but compelling read/listen And talk about thought provoking! FIVE HUGE STARS.
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