Bright day

Bright day or the magic of the early years is a novel by the English writer John Boynton Priestley . The original was published in 1946 under the title Bright Day.

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The fifty-year-old English screenwriter Gregory Dawson, who returned to his homeland in 1940 despite great success in Hollywood , is looking for the solitude of a country hotel in Cornwall to finish a script. Besides that, he thinks about his future path in life. Surprisingly, he meets an elderly couple among the hotel guests whom he knew in a brief episode of his youth as the Nixon couple. The memory of these two formative years gradually comes into his mind in such abundance of detail that he relives the time long past.

The phase of his life in question takes place in the years 1912-1914 in the fictional northern English town of Bruddersford (formed from the names Bradford and Huddersfield ). The orphaned Gregory Dawson, around twenty, who lives with relatives in Bruddersford but has little social contact, often sees a group of happy people in the city whom he considers to be family and whose friends he would like to be among their friends. But that seems unattainable to him. When he finally accepts an apprenticeship in the raw wool trade, he is astonished to find that the manager of this branch, John Alington, is the father of that family. Alington is very friendly and encouraging towards the shy but talented Gregory, and Gregory's dream comes true: He grows into the circle of friends of the Alington family, with whom he is primarily connected by a love of music, and experiences many good and formative things with them and their friends.

Unfortunately, happiness is short-lived. The Nixons, whom Dawson will later see again at that hotel, appear to review Alingtons management and ruthlessly intrude into his private life. Jealousies and rivalries develop within the formerly harmonious Alington family, culminating in the alleged accidental death of their daughter Eva. The family falls apart, John Alington loses his job and his health. The emerging war will eventually destroy the rest of the good times.

After completing his script, Gregory Dawson realizes that reliving this time has an impact on his present. He turns down a very good offer to return to Hollywood and dedicates his life to promoting a group of young, idealistic filmmakers in London.

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• Magic of the early years. Translated by Marinette Chenaud, Franz Ehrenwirth Verlag Munich 1980
• Bright day. Translated by Marinette Chenaud, Hallwag-Verlag Bern