Author Q&A: Texan Sarah Damoff

Sarah Damoff’s debut novel, The Bright Years, published this week. The Bright Years follows a husband, wife, and their daughter as they’re torn apart by alcoholism, secrets, and tragedy, but ultimately redeemed by their love for each other.

Sarah Damoff is a social worker working in the foster system. She has spent time working with families affected by addiction, and her experience working with issues related to alcoholism, divorce, adoption, and more is evident throughout the book. 

Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had and Same as it Ever Was, states, “This novel sparkles in its sentences, its texture, its big heart—The Bright Years is a vivid, forthright, and gorgeously written story of love in its many iterations.” 

Sarah Damoff lives in Texas with her husband and children, where she is a social worker. Her work has appeared in Porter House Review, Ruminate Magazine, and Open Global Rights, among other publications. The Bright Years is her debut novel. Visit Sarah at SarahDamoff.com.

I really enjoyed The Bright Years, and it is a May Buzz Reads pick. Sarah answers some questions that I posed to her about The Bright Years:

Sarah Damoff’s debut novel, The Bright Years, published this week. Sarah Damoff is a social worker working in the foster system. Her experience working with issues related to alcoholism, divorce, adoption, and more is evident throughout the book. (Photo: Kaylynn Krieg Photography)

What kind of research did you have to do?

With a book spanning 60 years, I had to do a lot of quick research about the different years and decades I was writing in. My heaviest area of research, though, was into the experience of alcoholism, for which I read books as well as interviewed people who were generous enough to speak with me. 

What do you hope your readers take away from your book?

I hope readers take away a sense of grace for themselves and/or their loved ones.

Do you have any say in what your book cover looks like? 

Yes, and I love this book cover. I sent my team at Simon & Schuster an overview of what I envisioned – something simple and beautiful and possibly painted – and they came back with the current cover. It was so perfect it moved me to tears. It’s a painting by a talented artist in South Korea named Young Park, and I was actually able to purchase the painting, which now hangs in my living room. I love that the artwork so perfectly portrays what’s in the book: human need and beauty and the light of hope. 

Are you working on anything at the present that you would like to share with me?

I’m currently working on edits for my second novel, also with Simon & Schuster. This is another multigenerational family saga in which a couple on the brink of divorce loses their home in a fire and is forced to temporarily live with in-laws who are in a life-changing season of their own.

Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you. 

I was a theater kid from age four through high school!

What are you reading now and what have you read recently that you loved?

I am currently reading Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, and a recent read I loved was Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.

For more book recommendations and bookish thoughts, see Cindy’s monthly Buzz Reads column, her award-winning Thoughts from a Page Podcast or follow @ThoughtsFromaPage on Instagram.