The Brightest Sun

by Adrienne Benson

Overview

An illuminating debut following three women in sub-Saharan Africa as they search for home and family

Leona, an isolated American anthropologist, gives birth to a baby girl in a remote Maasai village and must decide how she can be a mother despite her own grim childhood. Jane, a lonely expat wife, follows her husband to the tropics and learns just how fragile life is. Simi, a barren Maasai woman, must confront her infertility in a society in which females are valued by their reproductive roles. In this affecting debut novel, these three very different women grapple with motherhood, recalibrate their identities and confront unforeseen tragedies and triumphs.

In beautiful, evocative prose, Adrienne Benson brings to life the striking Kenyan terrain as these women’s lives intertwine in unexpected ways. As they face their own challenges and heartbreaks, they find strength traversing the arid landscapes of tenuous human connection. With gripping poignancy, The Brightest Sun explores the heartbreak of loss, the struggle to find a sense of belonging and the surprising ways we find our family and home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780778307761
Publisher:	Park Row Books
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Adrienne Benson grew up traversing sub-Saharan Africa, finding homes in Zambia, Liberia, Kenya, and Cote d’Ivoire. She is now happily ensconced in Washington, D.C. with her three kids. Her writing has appeared in Buzzfeed, The Foreign Service Journal, Brain, Child, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, ADDitude Magazine, and several anthologies. The Brightest Sun is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

This expansive debut from Benson follows the lives of five women over two generations that interconnect in extraordinary circumstances… Benson’s depiction of motherhood across circumstances will please readers interested in stories about forging homes in other cultures.” —Publishers Weekly

“The African backdrop gives an interesting spin to Benson’s exploration of themes related to motherhood, outsiderness, and emotional connection.”—Booklist

“This novel transported me from my safe little house in Iowa to a place where lions and hyenas prowl, where blood soaks into the parched earth and where a seedling can consume a living tree and become its own hollow tree with space enough for a grown woman to crawl into. The book throbs with descriptions of the natural world that are so beautifully wrought that their thematic significance seems essential and, at some extra-sensory level, magical. And yet what's most exciting about this story is how, in the midst of so much beauty and wildness and violence—at the dark and quiet center of it, you might say—Benson illuminates human emotion and psychology with such accuracy that you are brought home again, almost dizzily, to your own recognizable heart. That is beautiful storytelling, and this is a beautiful novel.” —Tim Johnston, author of New York Times bestselling Descent

"In her debut novel, Adrienne Benson masterfully braids the lives, desires, and fears of three memorable women. Their loneliness and longing, their bravery and resilience are illuminated—with empathy and honesty—against the vivid landscapes of Kenya and Liberia. This clear-eyed novel is both heartbreaking and hopeful." —Joanna Luloff, author of The Beach at Galle Road

“This engrossing narrative offers the experience of engaging and empathizing with cultural differences deeper than unfamiliar customs. It can transport you to Kenya and present the doors of kinship.” —Mary Catherine Bateson, author of Composing a Life

“Adrienne Benson’s characters are complicated people, damaged by circumstances past and present; her exploration of what it takes for their wounds to heal is aglow with empathy and insight.” —Suzi Wyss, author of The Civilized World

“An enchanting and deeply moving story, The Brightest Sun is a lovely portrait of three women’s lives redolent with beautiful evocations of the African landscape and light. A page-turner of a tale and a stirring and finally redemptive story of mothers and daughters.” —Sara Mansfield Taber, author of Born Under an Assumed Name and Dusk on the Campo





“The Brightest Sun dazzles. A riveting page-turner filled with wonder, grace, and joy. Adrienne Benson is a fantastic writer.” —Brando Skyhorse, author of The Madonnas of Echo Park and Take This Man: A Memoir

From the Publisher

01/15/2018
Set in 1990s Kenya, this expansive debut from Benson follows the lives of five women over two generations that interconnect in extraordinary circumstances. Leona is an anthropological researcher living among the rural Maasai near Narok. After becoming pregnant during a capricious fling, Leona has her child in the isolated Maasai village and feels eerily disconnected from the baby. In her confusion, she turns to her Maasai friend, Simi, who provides her stability. Unable to have children, Simi adopts baby Adia to fulfill her dream of being a mother and to restore her identity and prestige in the strongly maternal Maasai society. In Liberia, Jane, a diplomat’s wife who used to live in Narok, grapples with fear: a violent coup during her pregnancy has deeply affected her psyche, and she is consumed by the worry that her brother’s mental illness will appear in her unborn daughter, Grace. Years later, teenaged Adia and Grace become friends after meeting in class and decide to track down Adia’s father, which opens up many old wounds for all five women. Though the characters are intriguing, strong women, much of their personalities are delivered in chunks of exposition that slow the plot. Benson’s depiction of motherhood across circumstances will please readers interested in stories about forging homes in other cultures. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly