By: Maria Stone

In Sometime Child, author Richard Bruce delivers a deeply human story born at the intersection of privilege, poverty, trauma, and second chances. Set against the vivid backdrop of New York City, the novel traces an unlikely connection between three characters whose lives collide during a violent alleyway encounter—an event that becomes a catalyst for narrative momentum and the possibility of personal transformation.

From the very first pages, Bruce makes a clear choice: he opens with rupture rather than resolution. The book’s gripping inciting incident shows three lives changing before the reader has had time to form attachments or assumptions, allowing character evolutions to reveal themselves as the story unfolds. As Bruce explains, he wanted to establish “a ‘before’…without hinting of the fact that the lives of each of the characters could change in unexpected ways as they interacted with each other.” At this early point, he notes, he didn’t intend for readers to feel “much in the way of hope for either of the assailants”—a narrative strategy that lays emotional groundwork for what becomes a compelling redemptive arc.

A Story Rooted in Real Experience

While Bruce’s novel is fiction, it is not conjured from imagination alone. It is supported by years of real-world experience working with underserved youth. In 1999, he volunteered with a program devoted to helping teenagers living in dangerous neighborhoods, unstable family structures, and struggling school systems. His first student, he recalls, told him it was unsafe for him to visit her at home. That relationship left a profound mark.

“As I spent time with her, I came to understand the difficulties she faced firsthand,” Bruce says. His experiences with her—and with many similar students—provided much of the emotional insight that shaped Sometime Child. These encounters gave him a living sense of what it means to come of age while navigating scarcity, fear, and systems that may be ill-equipped to nurture potential.

The Ties That Bridge Distant Worlds

The novel’s central connection—between a well-established attorney and two teenage assailants—serves as a conduit for exploring class divides. By all logic, their worlds should repel one another; Bruce instead allows them to intertwine. His approach reflects a core belief: that young people, regardless of background, “have the same dreams and hopes.” He seeks to show how people from “wildly different backgrounds might find some connection if they are willing to spend the time and effort to listen to each other.” That willingness, he suggests, can allow everyone to grow: “Those who have so little may find ways to improve their lives while those with so much can find ways to be kind to others, so it could be a win/win.”

That spirit of mutual transformation is the book’s emotional anchor.

Forgiveness as a Forward Motion

For Bruce, forgiveness is not just a literary theme—it is a philosophy for living. “Holding grudges is an extra weight that serves no purpose,” he shares. In his view, many people who have made mistakes are “in need and have the hidden desire to improve their lives,” though they often need someone to listen, encourage, and help them imagine new directions. His characters reflect this truth in both small and grand moments, making redemption feel both reachable and emotionally earned.

The City as Character

New York City is not merely the book’s setting—it is its crucible. Bruce portrays a metropolis where opulence and poverty live just blocks apart, where proximity alone is not enough to bridge the emotional and material distance between inhabitants. The city, he notes, “allowed me to portray my main characters living or working just minutes apart but in totally different environments… environments that can put a mark on their lives…good or bad that may be difficult to shed.” The places that shape us, he suggests, are not easily escaped—but neither are they destiny.

A Title of Aspiration and Empathy

The title Sometime Child gestures toward longing—and possibility. Children raised in poverty absorb constant reminders of what they lack. They see what they don’t have on television, on the internet, and in the world around them. Still, Bruce emphasizes, they hold the same dreams as those raised in comfort. He hopes that “SOMETIME their dreams might come true,” and felt the title perfectly captured “a path that might make a child’s dreams come true.”

Balancing Darkness and Light

Though the novel contains violence, inequality, and deep personal struggle, Bruce is careful to balance hardship with hope. “Despite all the turmoil and challenges in the world today…I wanted my book to be upbeat…but, at the same time, I wanted my book to be based in reality.” His goal was to “walk that line between evil and goodness,” trusting that readers would walk it with him.

What Readers Take With Them

Empathy is a throughline in Sometime Child. Bruce hopes readers will emerge more mindful of judgment and more attuned to the unseen forces that shape others’ lives. “I hope readers will see how important it is to avoid pre-judging and be empathetic to troubled children born into environments that they would not have chosen had they been able to do so,” he says.

With its cinematic pacing and emotional resonance, Sometime Child offers not just a story, but an invitation—to listen, to understand, and to believe in unexpected paths to hope.

Grab your copy of Sometime Child on Amazon today.