Search results for ""author charity norman""

*A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick 2015*'A poignant tale of one person's transgender journey.' - HeatLuke Livingstone is a lucky man. He's a respected solicitor, a father and grandfather, a pillar of the community. He has a loving wife and an idyllic home in the Oxfordshire countryside. Yet Luke is struggling with an unbearable secret, and it's threatening to destroy him. All his life, Luke has hidden the truth about himself and his identity. It's a truth so fundamental that it will shatter his family, rock his community and leave him outcast. But Luke has nowhere left to run, and to continue living, he must become the person - the woman - he knows himself to be, whatever the cost.'Move over Jodi Picoult. New Zealand-based author Charity Norman has the same clever knack of taking an issue and examining it from all angles, to see the effect it has on everyone involved.' New Zealand Herald

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**Shortlisted for 'best novel' in the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Awards!**A regular weekday morning veers drastically off-course for a group of strangers whose paths cross in a London café - their lives never to be the same again when an apparently crazed gunman holds them hostage. But there is more to the situation than first meets the eye and as the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the line between right and wrong starts to blur. Will the secrets they keep stop them from escaping with their lives? Another tense, multi-dimensional drama from the writer of the Richard & Judy bestseller AFTER THE FALL.'tautly plotted, gripping and emotional' - Clare Mackintosh

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A tender and thought-provoking story exploring the sacrifices we make for family and what it takes to be a good parent.Grace's teenage mother dies shortly after giving birth and the perfect adoptive parents are found for her: David, the curate of an inner-city parish, and his wife Leila, who are unable to have children of their own. What they don't count on is Matt Harrison, Grace's shell-shocked young father who falls in love with his daughter and fights to keep her.The Harrisons are an unconventional family who see in Grace a chance for redemption. To convince the courts of their suitability will require a commitment from Matt's mother to return from Africa to her unhappy marriage. The Harrisons enlist their friend, the feckless, charming Jake Kelly, to retrieve her and he sets off on a quest that will force a confrontation.Ultimately, there are terrible decisions to be made about Grace's fate. Everyone only wants what's best for her - but who can say exactly what that is?

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'To write about characters facing devastating, mind-altering health diagnoses and blend these everyday tragedies - all too familiar to some readers - into an elevated suspense novel, while steering clear of mawkishness and self-pity . . . it's an astounding piece of work.' 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award Judges'A sensitive, beautifully written exploration of a father/daughter relationship' - Adele Parks, Platinum magazine'A beautifully written and gripping story with an emotional twist' - Claire McGowan'Resonates with compassion and insight' - Caroline BondA heart-rending, thought-provoking tale of a close-knit community ripped apart by its local GP's disturbing, fragmented revelations as he succumbs to debilitating memory loss - revelations that cast new light on an unsolved missing-persons case and which throw the lives of those closest to him into unfathomable turmoil.They never found Leah Parata. Not a boot, not a backpack, not a turquoise beanie. After she left me that day, she vanished off the face of the earth.A close-knit community is ripped apart by disturbing revelations that cast new light on a young woman's disappearance twenty-five years ago.After years of living overseas, Emily returns to New Zealand to care for her father who has dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time - and to glimpse shattering truths about his past. Are some secrets best left buried?Another page-turning, emotive suspense novel from the Richard & Judy bestselling author of After the Fall and Radio 2 Book Club pick, 2020's The Secrets of Strangers - ideal reading-group fiction, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult and Clare Mackintosh.Pre-publication 5* reader reviews:'Charity Norman's great talent as an author is the way she gets inside every single character in her books so that you feel you know everything about them; even the minor characters are brought to life' - Susan S'This author never disappoints and yet again she has written a real corker of a novel' - Joan H'Charity Norman is a master storyteller' - Joanne W

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Cassy smiled, blew them a kiss. 'See you in September,' she said. It was a throwaway line. Just words uttered casually by a young woman in a hurry. And then she'd gone. It was supposed to be a short trip - a break in New Zealand before her best friend's wedding. But when Cassy waved goodbye to her parents, they never dreamed that it would be years before they'd see her again. Having broken up with her boyfriend, Cassy accepts an invitation to stay in an idyllic farming collective. Overcome by the peace and beauty of the valley and swept up in the charisma of Justin, the community's leader, Cassy becomes convinced that she has to stay.As Cassy becomes more and more entrenched in the group's rituals and beliefs, her frantic parents fight to bring her home - before Justin's prophesied Last Day can come to pass.A powerful story of family, faith and finding yourself, See You in September is an unputdownable new novel from this hugely compelling author.

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Livia Denby is on trial for attempted murder. The jury have reached a verdict.Two years earlier, Livia was a probation officer in Yorkshire, her husband Scott a teacher. Their children, Heidi and Noah, round out a happy family until the day Scott''s brother dies. Grief and guilt leave Scott seeking answers, a search which takes him into the world of conspiracy theories. As his grip on reality slides, he makes a decision which will put the family on a collision course with tragedy. Livia''s family has been torn apart, and now her son''s life is hanging in the balance. Just how far will she go to save the ones she loves?

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In the quiet of a New Zealand winter's night, a rescue helicopter is sent to airlift a five-year-old boy with severe internal injuries. He's fallen from the upstairs veranda of an isolated farmhouse, and his condition is critical. At first, Finn's fall looks like a horrible accident; after all, he's prone to sleepwalking. Only his frantic mother, Martha McNamara, knows how it happened. And she isn't telling. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Tragedy isn't what the McNamara family expected when they moved to New Zealand. For Martha, it was an escape. For her artist husband Kit, it was a dream. For their small twin boys, it was an adventure. For sixteen-year-old Sacha, it was the start of a nightmare.They end up on the isolated east coast of the North Island, seemingly in the middle of a New Zealand tourism campaign. But their peaceful idyll is soon shattered as the choices Sacha makes lead the family down a path which threatens to destroy them all.Martha finds herself facing a series of impossible decisions, each with devastating consequences for her family.

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On a sharp winter's morning, a man turns his back on prison. Joseph Scott has served his term. He's lost almost everything: his career as a teacher, his wife, the future he'd envisaged. All he has left are his three children but he is not allowed anywhere near them.This is the story of Joseph, who killed his wife, Zoe. Of their three children who witnessed the event. Of Zoe's parents, Hannah and Frederick, who are bringing up the children and can't forgive or understand Joseph. They slowly adjust to life without Zoe, until the day Joseph is released from prison...

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