The Bright One Author:Elvi Rhodes 'The Bright One', which is what Molly O'Connor calls her youngest child - even the priest says 'doesn't she light up the room when she comes into?' - is set in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, where Breda lives with her parents. She is the youngest of six and she would much prefer, like her friend Deidre, to be an only child and have a... more » bedroom to herself, with a wardrobe and a full-length mirror. James O'Connor takes work wherever he can find it, on the farms or, preferably on one of the fishing boats. He is partial to going to the races and backing the horses. Molly cleans at the big house. Breda, when not at school, sits on the cliff top and looks at the sea, knowing that just out of sight across the water is America where so many of her relatives went to seek a better life. One by one Breda's siblings will leave home - Kathleen to a convent, Kieran to train as a priest, the twins to the army and Moira to marriage, though Breda tells herself she will never leave Kilbally, it is the best place in the world. But circumstances change and one day she will have to do so...« less