This book traces a pattern: why is it that often the people with the hardest beginnings in life - children who experience displacement, disease, financial ruin, abandonment or bereavement - become the most successful adults? And is there something to learn from those people, who perhaps have the strongest sense of what matters most? This book brings together psychological research with scores of intimate, fascinating interviews. The resulting narrative is full of hope, and might help us all towards a better understanding of resilience, motivation, perspective and courage.