Trigger warnings: May contain spoilers. Select from here cancer, death, adoption to here to see list of trigger warnings. There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer. I defy you not to shed a tear at this beautiful story... a touching and life-affirming read. * Prima * I was born in Young, a small town in south western NSW in 1950. After a few years we moved to Glen Innes, on the northern tablelands and then when I was ten we moved out west to Dubbo. We moved because my father was a schoolteacher and each change meant a promotion for him.

From the past, the most saddest thing ever is that when her mother couldn't look after Kerry and her brother, anymore, they went into separate care. Kerry and Noah couldn't have had any more different upbringings if they tried, but yet there are a few similarities in their lives.What an involving, captivating, heart-rending story. Some books fade from the memory but I know I'm never going to forget these characters - they feel like my own family. -- Jill Mansell The differences between Noah and Kerry are stark. He is wealthy, has been privately educated, studied at University and dresses well. She left care at eighteen and went spectacularly off the rails and now cleans large houses owned by wealthy people to put food on the table for her and Kian. Rather than their differences pushing them further apart Mike Gayle uses them to bring Noah and Kerry together. It would have been easy to have Noah pity Kerry, to see her as a project or something he can fix, but in actual fact, he admires her tenacity and slowly, slowly, sees that they have similarities. When they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve traveled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn’t pure blinding fury, and there’s no way to control it, or its power. Steve and Penni met eyes again. Penni turned all the way around. “Jaden, it’s just that Steve read an article saying the baby seat should be in the middle. Okay?”

Half a World Away is honest, raw and moving story about finding one’s self, about family and about unconditional love and sacrifice. It’ll go on the “read again” shelf for when I feel I need the warm hug of a family when I’m unable to be with my own. I was almost in floods of tears for most of the last fifth of the book, and kept having to swallow the lump in my throat, purely as I didn't want people wondering why on earth I was crying poolside on holiday. It isn’t easy, it is heart-wrenching, but, oh, is it worth reading. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.‘ Vine

One pinballs from placement to placement before finally growing up in a care home. A rough start in life, a need to fend for herself and eventually, a determination to ‘make good’. Kerry lives a humble but happy life as the single mother of her son, Kian, in a west London council estate, working hard as a cleaner. With now her mother has passed away, she decides to find her brother, Noah Martineau who is a successful barrister, with a posh voice and a wife and daughter living in a big house. This is a beautiful, beautiful book. It's about family, about class, about love, about choices and sacrifice. It's about letting go and learning to hold on. It's optimistic and heartbreaking and funny and emotional. It's the kind of book that will stay with you, long after you finish it. Buy it, read it, love it - and hang on to those tissues, you'll need them.' Netgalley I was also born in Birmingham — in my humble opinion the greatest city in the world with the nicest people too.