Brightly Shining: A Service 95/Dua Lipa Book Club Pick

A beautiful novel about family, community and kindness. Wonderful ― Daily Mail

An emotionally packed little gem...As the story unfolds, your heart aches for the girls - but also for all of us in this world we've built ― New York Times

Like all good Christmas stories, it stresses the importance of kindness and charity ― Financial Times

This tender novel does exactly what it promises: shines brightly despite the darkness ― Oprah Daily's best books of 2024

Powerful and heartwarming ― Buzz magazine

Charming...one of those deceptively simple books that contains deep wells of emotion and meaning -- Pandora Sykes ― Country and Townhouse

[A] poignant novella -- Sam Leith ― Spectator

This moving tale, with not a single wasted word, asks how we keep going when hope fades and life's burdens become too much to bear, leaning on the power of imagination and connection to find a way forward ― Booklist

A charming, Christmas-themed novella about sisterhood and financial hardship...This has the feel of a classic holiday tale ― Publishers Weekly

There is real magic in this charming novel about care, community and the kindness of strangers. It is a deeply affecting story, beautifully told, that is sure to touch the hearts of many readers -- Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of SHUGGIE BAIN

Deceptively simple, deceptively innocent, told from the perspective of a bright-eyed, too-wise child, Brightly Shining has the power of a classic. You will read it in a single sitting, then carry it in your heart -- Claire Messud

A dazzling contemporary fable of hardship and grit about two sisters who refuse to lose hope. Curl up with it for instant hygge and a warming of the heart -- Lily King, author of WRITERS AND LOVERS

Brightly Shining feels fresh as spruce needles and ancient as bedrock.The clear and hopeful voice of Ronja slips easily into your heart and takes up residence like a breathless memory, like a song of unbearable beauty. I want to read more Ingvild Rishøi, and the sooner the better -- Leif Enger, author of I CHEERFULLY REFUSE

Probably going to stay with me for the rest of my life . . . A magnificently beautiful story, at the intersection between Astrid Lindgren and H.C. Andersen . . . in the same league as the absolute
best that has been written in Nordic literature

― FriFagbevegelse (Norway)

A little miracle ― Les Echos (France)

Rishøi doesn't lose control for even a second. Her reins are tight, the words are exactly where they ought to be . . . Rishøi makes her vulnerable and tender Christmas story grow into the reader
and take place there

― Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)