Fictional hope is still hope: The power of uplifting stories

By Ginny Kubitz Moyer

Over the twenty-six years that I taught high school English, many students noticed an unfortunate pattern among our assigned texts. “We always have to read such depressing books in our English classes,” they would complain. “Aren’t any of the classics happy?”

It was a valid point, because our department curriculum—like that of most high schools I know—wasn’t exactly heavy on lighthearted fiction. Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World: these aren’t texts that leave you feeling optimistic about humanity. Sure, every now and then my students and I would read a book that ended in a hopeful place, like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or The Joy Luck Club. But more often than not, the assigned texts finished with downers like egregious body counts (Hamlet) or the unrelenting bleakness of life in a totalitarian state (1984).

I’m not here to bash serious or tragic books. I actually love most of the books mentioned above, and I loved teaching them. Gloomy as they are, these texts have rich themes and complex characters that always invited good discussion.

But when it comes to choosing books for my own leisure reading, I have a different criteria. When I think of the novels that I want to crack open over morning coffee or read before bed, they’re usually the books that end with a rather more positive view of life and the world. As my cousin once said, “I’ve gotten to the point in life where I just don’t want to read anything too angsty.” 

My preference for hopeful literature has only grown stronger of late. There are probably many reasons for it, but I think it’s partly because in this age of modern media, we’re all oversaturated with content. Sometimes it’s pleasant content, like a friend’s Instagram reel of her dog, but frequently it’s not. The pressing, weighty problems of the world find their way into my social media feeds and pop up uninvited as news alerts on my phone. And while I believe passionately in staying informed and engaged, I also recognize that there is an emotional toll that comes when anxieties and fear invade the formerly quiet spaces in my mind.

So now, more than ever before, I want my leisure reading to be an escape. I want books that feature rich conflict and complex characters but also leave me feeling hopeful about life and humanity. The books that manage to do all of the above are the ones I love, the ones I re-read, the ones I recommend to others. 

They are also the kind of books I like to write.

I should clarify that the characters in my own stories do in fact go through hard things; my novels are not all sunshine and flowers (although they feature liberal helpings of both). In my novel A Golden Life, the protagonist, Frances, is a secretary in 1938 Hollywood, where she witnesses the sexism and harassment common in the movie industry of the time. Later, when Frances and her producer boss drive to northern California to meet a reclusive ninety-year-old stage actress, all three characters find themselves embarking on sometimes painful emotional journeys. In the sunny landscape of the Napa Valley, every one of them will be forced to confront shadows from the past. But though I won’t get into spoilers, I will say that the novel ends on a clear note of hope. And while A Golden Life explores the painful effects of vanity and cruelty, it also features characters who, in the end, choose to lead with the best parts of their humanity. 

Catherine, the protagonist of my debut novel, The Seeing Garden, also faces her share of challenges. Because the novel is set in 1910, her world is even narrower than Frances’s world; Catherine must navigate the expectations of a society that sees a good marriage as the peak of a woman’s existence. Her journey to self-actualization exposes her to the ugliness of male privilege and to society’s use of shame as a weapon. But—just as in the garden of the title—there’s also beauty and new growth, for herself and for others. One reader told me the book’s ending left her in happy tears, and that’s the sort of feedback that makes me glow for days, because it shows that my story made someone else feel hopeful about life for a while…just as other authors and books have done for me.

I’d never discourage people from reading good books, even if their endings are depressing or bleak. I’ve learned something from every novel I’ve ever read, and I’m grateful for that. But when real life is painful and our faith in humanity is tested, there’s tremendous power in stories that offer us a different perspective. The characters aren’t real, these stories whisper, but hope is. Remember that.

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Ginny Kubitz Moyer is the author of the novel A Golden Life, which was named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Indie Books of 2024. Her debut novel, The Seeing Garden, was a Silver award winner in the 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in Historical Fiction. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two sons, and one rescue dog. Learn more at www.ginnymoyer.org. 

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A GOLDEN LIFE

Embark on a journey to 1930s California in Ginny Kubitz Moyer’s spellbinding historical novel in which a woman must choose between friendship and her own secrets.

It’s 1938, and twenty-five-year-old secretary Frances Healey is ready for a fresh start. Hoping to forget her painful past, she takes a job working for Hollywood producer Lawrence Merrill. She quickly becomes absorbed in VistaGlen Studios’s biggest project: a movie about Kitty Ridley, the legendary stage actress who disappeared from the public eye in 1895. The movie will be the making of Belinda Vail, a beautiful ingenue who is hungry for a breakout role—and also happens to be Mr. Merrill’s love interest.

But the real Miss Ridley has other ideas. Now ninety years old, she writes a scathing letter insisting the studio halt production of the film. Hoping to change her mind, Frances and Mr. Merrill embark on a trip to find the actress—only to land in a Victorian farmhouse in the Napa Valley. But as she learns the truth of Miss Ridley’s life, Frances finds herself confronting the very past she’s been trying to forget. And with the arrival of the ambitious Belinda, loyalties will be tested, bonds will be forged, and Frances will learn where true happiness lies. Set in Hollywood and the sun-drenched Napa countryside, A Golden Life explores friendship, forgiveness, and the power of honoring your own story.

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