“Do you know lots of people believe that when you die, you become a star? I think so too. And that your mammy and daddy are now stars in the sky, shining their light on us all.” Rachel pulled her two stepchildren into her arms. “And they know you’re safe down here with me.”

When Rachel met handsome Irish widower Lorcan it was a whirlwind romance. Her family back in New Zealand thought it would never last. But it did, and they were so happy. Bringing up two children hadn’t been in her life plan, but it had become her joy, and she was as proud of them as if they were her own.

She’d say to them “even though you didn’t grow in my tummy, you grew in my heart”, and they’d all laugh, knowing they were loved. Their little family wasn’t quite the same as everyone else’s, but it was beautiful, it was happy, it was home.

Until now. Because when Lorcan’s life is taken in a tragic accident, it feels like Rachel’s world has died with him. She knows in her heart that she wants to take the children back to the country she grew up in. Where she’d have support, because they’d be surrounded by her family. Where she could grieve and heal; and the children could have a new start.

However, she doesn’t count on the children’s own grandparents. Their blood relations, who say Rachel isn’t their real mother and so can’t take them away from Ireland. Who say they won’t let her.

As Rachel finds herself fighting against the only people who might love the children as much she does, everyone will have to ask–what makes a parent? What makes a home? And with whom do the children of her heart have a future?

An utterly unmissable and powerful story about families, love, and heartbreak, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Maeve Binchy, and Jodi Picoult.