A sensitive and at times heartbreaking story of a child offered for adoption. ( )

Freeing Grace is the story of two families wrestling with the thorny issue of adoption. One family is facing the challenge of choosing whether to keep a baby or give it up for adoption and the other family is facing the challenge of giving up hope of ever having children - naturally or by adoption.

This kind of story would seem to be ideal fodder for bookclub discussions. The book is made available as a book club set through Moreton Bay Regional Council libraries and I look forward to our book club discussion next week.

Freeing Grace is Charity Norman's debut novel and was published in 2010. Her next book is due out July 2012 and is called After the Fall. The third book called The Son in Law is planned for 2014. Charity was a barrister specialising in crime and family in England before she became a writer. She now lives in New Zealand and her style of writing is mentioned in the same breath as Jodi Picoult.

The novel is set in both England and Africa with an antipodean anti-hero as tour guide. It makes for light reading without too much straining of the grey matter.

The characters do seem real particularly in the fallibilty of their natures. The dialogue is very much of the times and tends towards English parochialism. Very occasionally the style verges on pulp fiction but the story rolls along very nicely and certainly kept me up all night last night.

As a vehicle for exploring moral dilemmas this book certainly succeeded from the adopter's point of view. I was less convinced with the portrayal of the teenage father's point of view. ( )

This story highlights the complex issues and ties involved in the adoption process.
David , a curate and his Nigerian born wife Leila are seeking a child for adoption, following several miscarriages after IVF treatment. After years of disappointment, they are contemplating a childless marriage when they are advised that a baby girl is available for adoption, Grace.
Grace was born to a teenage Mum, who dies soon after in a car crash and the teenage father is located but feels unable to look after Grace on his own. The adoption looks as if it will go ahead until a New Zealander, Jake Kelly is enlisted to locate the paternal Grandmother. Jake having walked away from his long term relationship and job is at a loose end, so decides to help, not realising what he was getting into.
Charity Norman has woven a complex web of characters and a few twists to the plot which keeps us turning pages.
This is an impressive debut book and I thought she captured well the emotional turmoil that comes with the adoption process. ( )

The Grace of the title is a baby born to a teenage couple. The mother is killed soon after in a car accident- she did not feel she was abel to cope with the child and was running away. Nor does the young father feel he can cope on his own much as he loves Grace and visits her regularly. Grae is set to be adopted out to a couple, David a parish minister and his Nigerian wife Leila who are unable to have children of their own but at the last minute problems arise. The Harisons, the birth family, enlist the help of a friend to bring the childs grandmother back from Africa to help raise the child. Both sides want the child but who will provide the best care for Grace and what will happen in the end, I will not reveal.
This was a good story . I could feel for David and Leila, and could sense the heartbreak that would arise for the father if he lost out. I liked the way the story ended ( )