Book Summary and Reviews of When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff

Book Summary

The acclaimed, bestselling author of This Could Hurt returns with her biggest, boldest novel yet—an electrifying, twisty, and deeply emotional family drama, set on Manhattan's glittering Upper East Side, that explores the dark side of love, the limits of loyalty, and the high cost of truth.

You can have everything, and still not have enough. 

Cassie Quinn may only be twenty-three, but she knows a few things. One: money can't buy happiness, but it's certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother Billy is not a rapist.

When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie races home to Manhattan to join forces with her big brother Nate and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile—white, athletic, and privileged—that makes headlines and sways juries.

Meanwhile, Cassie struggles to understand why Billy's ex Diana would go this far, even if the breakup was painful. And she knows how the end of first love can destroy someone: Her own years-long affair with a powerful, charismatic man left her shattered, and she's only recently regained her footing.   

As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, the Quinns gird themselves for a media-saturated trial, and Cassie vows she'll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?

Lightning-paced and psychologically astute as it rockets toward an explosive ending, When We Were Bright and Beautiful is a dazzling novel that asks: who will pay the price when the truth is revealed? 

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What was your reaction to the first line of the novel: "This is Billy's story, but if I were the one telling it, I'd start with Nate's call"? As you read further, did your understanding of Cassie's statement change?
2. How would you characterize Cassie's relationship with her brothers, Billy and Nate? Do you have siblings, and if so, how would you react to the news that one of them had committed an act of violence?
3. How did Cassie being an outsider of sorts to the Quinn family bear on her relationship with them and perceptions of them?
4. Cassie says, "Money is a noose that binds parents and children together in ways you can't anticipate." What does she mean? How does having money (or, conversely, not having money) ...