This was a very moving and heartbreaking story which I really enjoyed.

Martha and her family have moved from London to New Zealand to start a fresh after her husbands business collapses.
Four year old twins Finn and Charlie are quite excited about the move and are delighted with their new home. However sixteen year old Sacha is not thrilled with moving and is having trouble settling in. Martha is also pleased as her husband Kit stops drinking and starts doing his painting again.
But Martha and Kit don't see the signs of just how unhappy their daughter is until one tragic night threatens to destroy them all.

Finn gets rushed to hospital after falling from the balcony of their home. From here the story alternates between the past, building to the events immediately proceeding Finns injuries.
This is a very compelling and emotional read about a family in crisis and how you sometimes need to hit rock bottom before you can find your way back to the top.
I couldn't put this book down and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Second Chances is a moving, heartbreaking story of family tragedy. Martha has moved her family from London to New Zealand in a bid to start fresh after her husbands business collapsed. Her four year old twins, Finn and Charlie are delighted with their new home, Kit has stopped drinking and is painting again, only 16 year old Sacha is having trouble settling in. Desperate to believe that she has made the right decision for her family, Martha ignores the signs of her daughters discontent until one tragic night threatens to destroy them all.

Set in and around Hawkes Bay, a small town in New Zealand, where the author herself in fact lives, Second Chances opens as Martha sits anxiously at the bedside of her critically injured son, Finn, who has been rushed to hospital after a fall from the balcony of their home. From there, the novel alternates between the past, building to the events immediately preceding Finn's injuries, and the present, delving into the lives of the McNamara family. Narrated in the first person by Martha, wife to Kit (Christopher), mother to twin boys, Finn and Charlie, and teen daughter Sacha, Second Chances examines a family whose new life in paradise becomes a nightmare. I don't want to inadvertently give too much away, as the suspense in the story relies on the slow unfurling of past and present. It is enough, perhaps, to suggest that Martha is a women keeping many secrets, and those secrets threaten to tear her family apart.
The characters in Second Chances are realistic, flawed yet in ordinary ways and sympathetic as a result. Martha and Kit's relationship has its ups and downs but there is love and commitment at its core. They are both loving parents though Martha tends to be more overprotective, especially where Sacha is concerned. Sacha is Martha's daughter but not Kit's, she has never known her biological father and Martha claims her pregnancy was the result of a one night stand with a man she never saw again. I thought Norman rendered the complex dynamics of the family skillfully and I believed in their reactions and motivations.
Second Chances also explores important social issues such as unemployment, relocation, mental health and substance abuse and the author provides insight into their effects on an ordinary family. The novel challenges the smug mantra often espoused by the middle class 'this couldn't happen to me or mine'.

A compelling story, Second Chances is an emotional and thought provoking read. This is a book that I'd particularly recommend to parents of young adults but I believe it will appeal to any reader who enjoys fiction that examines a family in crisis.

This book has an alternate title: "Second Chances".
My score: 8.51/0
http://happyhobbit1.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/second-chances-by-charity-norman.html

Apart from them both being brilliant female writers who are wonderful storytellers I didn't really see the similarity with Jodi Picoult, whose name kept popping up in reviews. Charity Norman paints such a vivid picture, her writing is so descriptive and I felt thoroughly absorbed by this book. I struggled to put After The Fall down and read until 1am just to see how it would end as it wasn't always obvious. There were a few twists that kept me guessing and I found all the characters interesting, even those who had a bit part. I really hope Charity is working on a third book!

I have been struggling a little with reading the past month or so. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the books I’ve read but my concentration and time levels have been constrained. I decided to see if Charity Norman’s novel After The Fall could snap me out of my reading funk.

And boy did it do just that! This is the first book I’ve read by Charity Norman and so I just hoped for the best and went based upon the dust jacket blurb.

This is the story of Martha & Kit who emigrate to New Zeland with their twin boys and teenage daughter. Another book about emigration but oh so different in tone to my last book by Nick Spalding. The book opens as Martha deals with the immediate aftermath of her young son Finn falling from a balcony in their New Zeland home and the questions asked about the circumstances surrounding the fall.

From the springboard the story jumps back to 18 months earlier and the chain of events leading to the fall right back to the family’s decision to leave the UK. We are clearly told something is amiss but the book beautifully leads us through the story.

It was such a gripping book, the first in a long time I’ve been desperate to get back to. Choosing it over the latest episode of Greys Anatomy and Dr McDreamy is high praise indeed. The characters are well written and the book beautifully atmospheric.

It doesn’t over dramatise the events in the book, it isn’t so extreme as to be unbelievable and it is sensitively handled. It evoked real tears from me in the closing chapters as it reached it’s conclusion. It didn’t lead us into an easy tale of heroes and villains but one of shades of light an dark.

A truly wonderful read, I would very thoroughly recommend this as a 5 out of 5 stars

Oh my word, what an absolute heartbreaker of a book! You know it's good when you can feel both hatred and pity for the same character over the course of one chapter. The first bit of the book was a bit slow, but it picked up quite quickly. I think there were definitely some drawn out chapters with details that, while important to the plot, did not need to be as long as they were. That said, the main story arc of this book was riveting, painful, endearing and nervewracking all at the same time. I consider that to be worthy of the 4 stars.

Absolutely LOVED this book!!! Very thought provoking and sad but amazing! It showed the love you have within your family unit is second to none! Can't wait to read more from this author.

It was a good book. I felt like it was quite slow in the beginning, it picked up towards the end, the last few chapters i couldn't stop reading. I would recommend it.

Unputdownable. What a thrilling, gripping, absolutely brilliant read! Characters really come to life. Thoroughly recommended.