This Bright Life
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE AWARD 2025
'Life-affirming' JANICE HALLETT
'Full of compassion and hope' ELISSA SOAVE
'A masterpiece' CAROLE HAILEY
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.
Karen Campbell is the author of nine novels. A former police officer, then Glasgow City Council press officer, she won the Best New Scottish Writer Award in 2009. She also teaches creative writing and was recently Writer in Residence at Dumfries and Galloway Council. Originally from Glasgow, she now lives in Galloway.
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