Join Jess Wallace in a discussion about this week’s “Book of the Week”.
Set in and around Hawke’s Bay, where author Charity Norman lives, Second Chances is a moving, heartbreaking story of family ultimatums and tragedy.

Martha McNamara has moved her family from London to New Zealand in a bid to start afresh after her husband Kit’s business collapses and he starts hitting the bottle. Her four-year-old twin boys Finn and Charlie love their new paradise, Kit stops drinking to prepare for his upcoming art exhibition, and it’s only 16-year-old Sacha who finds it difficult to settle in.
Desperate to believe she has made the right choice for her family, Martha ignores the signs of her daughter’s unhappiness until one disastrous night threatens to destroy them all.
The novel is narrated in the first person by Martha and opens with her sitting nervously in the intensive care unit at the bedside of her youngest son Finn, who has been taken to hospital after apparently falling from a balcony. It alternates between past and present, covering the events from the family leaving London and building up to how they came to be at Finn’s hospital bedside in New Zealand.
Without giving too much away, Martha is a woman keeping many secrets – only she knows how Finn really got hurt – and those secrets threaten to tear her family apart. She only wants the best for her family, but her perfect plan has turned into her worst nightmare.
Charity hits the mark when it comes to describing family dynamics, social issues and the toll substance abuse takes on those surrounded by it. The characters are believable and it’s easy to empathise with their plight. This is the perfect winter read.
Reviewed by: Jess Wallace
Have you read Second Chances?
Share your thoughts below!