
This Impossible Brightness
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Caroline Hewitt
About this listen
Taking refuge on a remote island, a grieving woman develops unlikely connections with the community and the wild in this haunting novel of hope and perseverance from debut author Jessica Bryant Klagmann.
After the mysterious disappearance of her fiancé, Alma Hughes moves to a remote island in the North Atlantic, where she hopes to weather her grief and nurture her ailing dog. But the strange town of Violette has mysteries as well.
Townsfolk say that the radio tower overlooking their town broadcasts messages through their home appliances, their dreams, even the sea itself. When lightning strikes the tower, illuminating the sky in a brilliant flash, Alma finds herself caught in the unexplainable aftermath of one of Violette’s deadliest storms.
As the sea consumes the island, threatening its very existence, the deaths and lost memories of the recently departed also devastate the community. Alma, with a unique link to the lost, may be the only one who can help them move on. But to do so, she must confront a tragic loss of her own.
On this doomed island haunted by echoes of the departed, Alma searches for meaning in her future—and dares to discover the power of hope among the living.
©2024 Jessica Klagmann. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“An original and inherently fascinating novel by an especially gifted author, This Impossible Brightness by Jessica Bryant Klagmann will have a particular attraction for readers with an interest in family life/women's domestic life novels whose deft crafting raise them to an impressive level of literary excellence.”—Midwest Book Review
“At once haunting and visionary, Jessica Bryant Klagmann’s This Impossible Brightness asks us to consider ghosts in their many forms—literal ghosts, the ghosts of grief that follow all of us, and the ghost of a present-but-disappearing earth amid climate devastation. In the face of sweeping loss, this novel resists despair by weaving an expansive web of interconnectedness and also of hope. Klagmann’s debut is both wildly imaginative and gorgeously moving.”—Anne Valente, author of Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down
“In the eyes of This Impossible Brightness, humans bear a particular mark of distinction, one that’s spiritual or psychological rather than physical. We are the species that tries to change direction in midair; we attempt, impossibly, to take our fall and transform it into an ascent. Jessica Bryant Klagmann’s writing seems motivated by this same desire. Everywhere in her novel’s pages, you sense some force yearning to turn the future into the past—to forestall the autumn of the world, spin it around, and allow it to burst into spring. Through her focus on this effort, she produces a feeling that’s sustained and powerful, a clear-eyed grief leavened by a mad hope.”—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations
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Narrator doesn’t get Backman’s satire or rhythm
- By joey1603 on 12-01-24
By: Fredrik Backman, and others
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Say No More
- By: Caroline Overington
- Narrated by: Anna Skellern
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer. A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.
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Seriously, that was the ending?
- By alicia in athens on 02-13-25
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He Who Fights with Monsters 2
- A LitRPG Adventure (He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 2)
- By: Shirtaloon, Travis Deverell
- Narrated by: Heath Miller
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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But Jason Asano is settling into his new life. Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone to compete for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer. While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Although Jason seems uninvolved, he has unknowingly crossed the enemy’s path before.
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Contrary to common reviews
- By Karen on 05-21-21
By: Shirtaloon, and others
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Brain Damage
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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As Charly struggles to recover from her brain injury, she begins to realize that the events of that fateful night are trapped in the damaged right side of her brain. Now, she must put the jigsaw pieces together to discover the identity of the man who tried to kill her...before he finishes the job he started.
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Who Else Laughed, Cried, and Shuddered?
- By Jennifer Chichester on 09-16-22
By: Freida McFadden
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Starship Troopers
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
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The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
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Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
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Wish I Hadn't Cliff Noted This in High School
- By Joel on 03-27-17
By: Ray Bradbury
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The House on the Water
- A Novella
- By: Margot Hunt
- Narrated by: Taylor Schilling
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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Every year, Caroline Reed takes a trip with her best friend, Esme Lamont. They’re usually accompanied by their spouses - but this year, everything’s changed. Esme has just gone through a bitter divorce, and Caroline's wondering if her own marriage is reaching its breaking point as she and her husband, John, cope with the discovery that their son has been abusing drugs. Still, the inseparable duo books a weeklong stay at a beach-front home in Shoreham, Florida, inviting Esme’s brother, Nick, and his new husband. After a blissful first night in the vacation home, tragedy strikes.
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Wonderful Story
- By David M. Wilcox on 12-04-20
By: Margot Hunt
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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Excellent
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As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths—until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister—one who’s been desperately trying to find her. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible.
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A great read
- By RSales on 02-18-24
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What listeners say about This Impossible Brightness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Pamela Ann Plumer
- 02-03-24
𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
This was a great listen with an agreeable narrator I listened to this during my morning and I enjoyed it!
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8 people found this helpful
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- EBgood
- 03-09-24
Beautifully written and narrated
The author weaves a tale of the inevitability of change and the importance of discerning what is in our power to have an affect on all the changes, large and small, and what is not. She speaks for the planet, the wildlife, the stars, and the hearts of human beings in a way that gently but clearly says," Take of of one another." I also love,love, love the way the story shows the shift in the global awareness that we truly have more than our 5 senses. Can't wait for her next book!
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8 people found this helpful
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- Mary C Bartel
- 08-10-24
Immersive and unexpected
While I put this down once, I picked it up again and I’m really happy I did. The more I read, the more captivated I became with the world building and characters of The Impossible Brightness. As the town around them succumbs to the effects of climate change, a type of irreparable loss, the characters echo this struggle. By playing with magical realism, the reader is drawn into a fascinating and curious exploration or grief, love, friendship and what it means to be understood. Impeccable narrator. Excellent read, I’m still thinking about it days later.
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- Jorge Varão Pinto
- 06-23-24
Nice little sad Sci fi story
It's well written and enjoyable but for some reason it just didn't click with me...
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-05-24
Hard to follow at times…
I simply had trouble engaging in the story. Generally that is not an issue, but I found myself replaying chapters feeling I had missed an important component. I’m glad I completed the story as it has some good philosophical points.
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- Evan K
- 02-12-24
Cinematic and serene!
Sometimes (but not often) a book is so well written, and a narration so perfectly delivered, that listening to the audiobook is like watching a movie. The words come at you like full-fledged scenes with color and light, sound and ambiance. It’s a strange phenomenon, to get so much sense and feeling from your ears, and so rare. But why I love audiobooks so much! From the prologue to the epilogue of this novel, I was transported to this quiet island in the North Atlantic, and hugged tight by this story of solitude. I didn’t want to leave, even as the waters were rising.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Kimberly
- 06-22-24
original, thought-provoking
An interesting study of individuality, mortality and the process of letting go. Such an original presentation, interesting and captivating. The narration only complimented the characters and prose. Entirely delightful; I’ll be looking for more reads from this author, who is new to me.
Thank you for time well spent.
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- susan
- 02-15-24
Never Again
I read (and delighted in) the written pages first, and then I listened to the novel's audio a few days later. I'm so glad I did it in this order. They very much complement one another. The writer has given us gripping stories within the story, and compelling characters with complicated, intricate relationships. The sequence of reading and listening, for me, brought to life these stories, as well as the book's beautiful imagery, exquisite language, depth of emotion, and profound feelings of grief tempered by fragile hope. (In the audio version I also loved hearing the "French," spoken in a way I could never have read it!)
There are moments now, big and small, in my daily life that unexpectedly take me to Violette and the "characters" who live there. I will never again see a mushroom "clinging gently" to the earth without thinking of that little girl Alma, infuriated by her fieldtrip classmates who, without another thought, kicked the mushrooms from living to dying for sport.
Never again will I brew a pot of tea without imagining messages emanating from the kettle.
Never again will I nuzzle our big sweet aging dog without seeing Jupiter and wondering with deep sadness when the day and "that thing" will be at hand. And knowing full well that my pain will not be unlike that of Alma, whose love for her furry best friend was so deep she could not bring herself to move on, no matter how much she was told she should.
Never again will I listen to an echo without hearing the reverberations of the Echoes of Violette, unveiling the possibility of a happy ending, no matter how deep the grief....
Well done, Jessica. Encore please!
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22 people found this helpful
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- Maryam
- 06-30-24
The main character's authenticity, as she finds, and slowly creates her self, and her independent life
For a long time, you wondered what story these chronicles of people's lives would add up to.
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- Ann Blodgett
- 07-16-24
Excellent listen!
I loved this book! Reader is excellent. Writing is beautiful. What an imaginative story! Highly recommend.
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