Margaret - an elderly widow who just wants to be left with her memories and her quiet, contained life.

Claire - newly divorced, downsizing into the neighbourhood and way too busy to mend a broken heart.

Gerard - a tearaway twelve-year-old who hates his name but loves his little brother and sister. Gerard is a bright kid, but trouble always follows him. No one really knows what it's like at home; he's used to carrying a lot on his small shoulders.

Gerard doesn't always make good decisions. One morning, he makes a very bad one, upending not just his world, but the lives of Margaret and Claire too. Both heart-breaking and life-affirming, This Bright Life is a story of messy lives, second chances and the many hands it takes to build a boy.