From the bestselling author of Phosphorescence comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary of human qualities: grace.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 INDIE BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 ABIA GENERAL NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKPEOPLE NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Luminous ... A work to both devour and savour, Baird has, once again, written a book the world needs now.' Guardian
Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other. If, in its crudest interpretation, karma is getting what you deserve, then grace is the opposite: forgiving the unforgivable, favouring the undeserving, loving the unlovable.
But we live in an era when grace is an increasingly rare currency. The silos in which we consume information dot the media landscape like skyscrapers, and our growing distrust of the media, politicians and public figures has choked our ability to cut each other slack, to allow each other to stumble, to forgive one another.
So what does grace look like in our world, and how do we recognise it, nurture it in ourselves and express it, even in the darkest of times?
From award-winning journalist Julia Baird, author of the acclaimed national bestseller Phosphorescence, comes Bright Shining, a luminously beautiful, deeply insightful and most timely exploration of grace.
'Fascinating, wide-ranging and moving' The Age
'The uplift and power of Bright Shining ... is to be found in the way Baird gives grace fresh currency by bringing this beautiful and elusive condition from the theological margins into the mainstream and showing, with passion and verve, how quietly transformative it can be.' Sydney Morning Herald
'Enlightening, surprising, absorbing .. I learned something every chapter and put the book down full of awe at the power of human beings to be good to each other when no-one would expect it. It's the book I needed to read right now. It filled my cup.' Annabel Crabb
Author Biography:
Julia Baird is a Sydney-based author and journalist. She writes columns for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the ABC. She is a former co-host of The Drum on ABC TV, senior editor of Newsweek in New York, Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, and op-ed contributor for the New York Times and the Philadelphia Enquirer. Her first book, Media Tarts, was based on her PhD in History about the portrayal of female politicians. Victoria, her biography of Queen Victoria, was published globally to critical acclaim and was one of the New York Times' top ten books of 2016. Her third book, Phosphorescence, was a multi-award-winning international bestseller. Bright Shining has been shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Non-Fiction Book of the Year. Julia lives near the sea with her two children and an abnormally large dog.
