{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260414T102527Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501169378?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1501169378","authors":["Nina Riggs"],"book_id":"9781501169373","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781501169373","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781501169373.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","description":"* 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 ).","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781501169373","publication_date":"20180116","publisher":"Scribner","slug":"the-bright-hour","subtitle":"A Memoir of Living and Dying","title":"The Bright Hour"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"BIO017000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Lives in Medicine","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO022000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women's Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO026000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Personal Memoirs","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}],"hint":[],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO017000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Lives in Medicine","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO022000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women's Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO026000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Personal Memoirs","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Lives in Medicine","score":1,"slug":"lives-in-medicine"},{"label":"Women's Lives","score":1,"slug":"women-s-lives"},{"label":"Personal Memoirs","score":1,"slug":"personal-memoirs"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Lives in Medicine","Good for readers interested in book club","Good for fans of Memoir"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Elisabeth Kubler-Ross","Todd Gold","Elisabeth Kübler-Ross"],"book_id":"9780684846316","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780684846316.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.8364,"title":"The Wheel of Life","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780684846316"},{"authors":["Jen Hatmaker","Simon & Schuster Audio"],"book_id":"9781668083680","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668083680.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.0552,"title":"Awake","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668083680"},{"authors":["Susannah Cahalan"],"book_id":"9781451621389","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781451621389.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":13.6841,"title":"Brain on Fire","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781451621389"},{"authors":["Pat Conroy"],"book_id":"9780553381573","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780553381573.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":12.9944,"title":"The Water Is Wide","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780553381573"},{"authors":["Belle Burden","Random House Audio"],"book_id":"9780593733318","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593733318.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":11.6353,"title":"Strangers","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593733318"},{"authors":["Guinevere Turner"],"book_id":"9780593237595","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593237595.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":11.5448,"title":"When the World Didn't End","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593237595"},{"authors":["Deborah Taffa","Deborah Jackson Taffa"],"book_id":"9780063288522","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063288522.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":11.5439,"title":"Whiskey Tender","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063288522"},{"authors":["Cea Sunrise Person","Harper"],"book_id":"9780062289872","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062289872.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":11.4768,"title":"North of Normal","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062289872"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:books about death"],"label":"About","score":0.1285,"slug":"about"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Book Club","score":0.0914,"slug":"book-club"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:powerful memoir"],"label":"Memoir","score":0.0644,"slug":"memoir"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:books about death"],"label":"Death","score":0.0588,"slug":"death"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:books about grief"],"label":"Grief","score":0.0504,"slug":"grief"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Book Club, Memoir, Death.","Reading lane: Lives in Medicine and Women's Lives.","Publisher: Scribner."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":3599,"goodreads_ratings_count":19435,"goodreads_reviews_count":2587,"quality_score":0.9952}}