''Compulsively readable, realistic, funny, touching'' The Times

When eighteen-year-old Ian Bedloe pricks the bubble of his family's optimistic self-deception, his brother Danny drives into a wall, his sister-in-law falls apart, and his parents age before his eyes. Consumed by guilt Ian finds the hope of forgiveness at the Church of the Second Chance, and leaves college to cope with the three children he has inherited and his own embarrassing religion.

Twenty years on, Ian's prospects of a second chance are receding fast when, out of the heart of the domesticity that has engulfed him, strides a new figure who will bring him new life.

**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**

''Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing'' Rachel Joyce

''She knows all the secrets of the human heart'' Monica Ali

''A masterly author'' Sebastian Faulks

''I love Anne Tyler. I''ve read every single book she''s written'' Jacqueline Wilson