The Light Always Breaks

Written by Angela Jackson-Brown

Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Neill Thorne

As 1947 opens, Eva Cardon is the twenty-four-year-old owner of Washington, D.C.’s, most famous Black-owned restaurant. When her path crosses with Courtland, a handsome white senator from Georgia, both find themselves drawn to one another—but the danger of a relationship between a Black woman and a white man from the South could destroy them and everything they’ve worked for.

Few women own upscale restaurants in civil rights era Washington, D.C. Fewer still are twenty-four, Black, and wildly successful. But Eva Cardon is unwilling to serve only the wealthiest movers and shakers, and she plans to open a diner that offers Southern comfort to the working class.

A war hero and one of Georgia’s native sons, Courtland Hardiman Kingsley IV is a junior senator with great ambitions for his time in D.C. But while his father is determined to see Courtland on a path to the White House, the young senator wants to use his office to make a difference in people’s lives, regardless of political consequences.

When equal-rights activism throws Eva and Courtland into each other’s paths, they can’t fight the attraction they feel, no matter how much it complicates their dreams. For Eva, falling in love with a white Southerner is all but unforgivable—and undesirable. Her mother and grandmother fell in love with white men, and their families paid the price. Courtland is already under pressure for his liberal ideals, and his family has a line of smiling debutantes waiting for him on every visit. If his father found out about Eva, he’s not sure he’d be welcome home again.

Surrounded by the disapproval of their families and the scorn of the public, Eva and Courtland must decide if the values they hold most dear—including love—are worth the loss of their dreams . . . and everything else.

The author of When Stars Rain Down returns with a historical love story about all that has—and has not—changed in the United States

• Historical romance set in civil rights era Washington, D.C. 
• Stand-alone novel
• Book length: approximately 120,000 words

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper Muse
• Release date: Jul 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9780785240617

Angela Jackson-Brown

Angela Jackson-Brown is an award-winning writer, poet, and playwright who is an Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and a member of the graduate faculty of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. Angela is a graduate of Troy University, Auburn University, and the Spalding low-residency MFA program in creative writing. She has published her short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry in journals like the Louisville Courier Journal and Appalachian Review. She is the author of Drinking from a Bitter Cup, House Repairs, When Stars Rain Down, and The Light Always Breaks.

Reviews for The Light Always Breaks

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This tale of a Black businesswoman and a White Southern senator (but who gave me very JFK vives) required me to suspend my disbelief a few times, although perhaps it shouldn't have. The romance between Eva and Courtland was sweet and kind - I particularly liked how he wanted to be supportive of her career and ambitions - but I was disappointed this couple was cheated of the ending they deserved. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, but I do think some additional editing could have been helpful - Courtland's military service seems to have occurred both in Guadalcanal and Nazi Europe, making me very interested in how that came about, but if there was an explanation, I missed it.

[enamoredsoul_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

***Thank you to Goodreads and Harper Muse for my copy of this book!***The Light Always Breaks by Angela Jackson-Brown is an absolutely astounding novel, not just because of the story but for it’s beautifully fleshed out characters. There is vibrant Eva Cardon, beautiful and ambitious, and hosting integrated parties at her restaurant Chez Genevieve in the Jim Crow era, challenging society and it’s ugly norms. And then there is the young, debonair and successful Courtland Hardiman Kingsley IV, a Georgia senator who finds drawn to the gorgeous and bold Eva, his ideas far more progressive than those of his parties. This novel is beautifully written, and I love that their relationship was not a caricature, but a well thought and well explored part and parcel of that time and era. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it broke my heart at times, and putting it back at other times.