When We Were Bright and Beautiful
Fiction
Harper
July 5, 2022
Hardcover
352
Purchased
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?
My review:
If you are at the point where you've exhausted all the summer beach reads and want something with more grit, you've come to the right book. In the shadow of the #metoo movement, this novel follows a wealthy Manhattan family whose son is accused of raping his ex-girlfriend. The story is told from the adopted sister Cassie and chronicles the events from the accusation, to the family coming together to stand by their brother/son, and ultimately to the trial. It's pretty dark in scope, especially with one of the twists that occurs late in the story, but it's a page turner because you just can't wait to find out if Billy is guilty. This has all the trappings of privilege, class, race, and appearance that you would expect, and none of the characters are particularly likable, which makes reading about them even more enticing. The bigger picture was that of loyalty to the family and how that plays out throughout the story. The writing was on point, there were not any slow parts even though the trial doesn't start until roughly 60% of the way in. I do love a good courtroom drama in a book, this one did a superb job of fulfilling that.
Definite trigger warning for sexual violence, and a pretty dark tale, but if those things are not a deterrent for you, this is a good family drama with a bonus trial that should be a satisfying read.
