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Second Chance Family
Callie Madden, a grieving widow and single mother of three, is stunned to learn she’s inherited one half of Hawkridge, a beautiful acreage in the Misty Mountains of Far North Queensland.
A potential family scandal surrounds the reasons for this bequest and there are additional complications. Callie is to share the inheritance with Ben Galbraith, a Scotsman, who’d helped Hawkridge’s owner in his final years. Also, the property can’t be sold for twelve months.
Callie’s life is in Townsville with her teenage twin daughters and six year old son. Ben plans to return to Scotland. How can they negotiate an entire year of caring for Hawkridge? And as they try to work together, is there more at stake than the property’s future?
Set on the picturesque hinterland of Australia's tropical far north, this is a deeply moving and uplifting story about making the most of the unexpected opportunities life throws your way. Ideal for fans of Tricia Stringer and Fiona Lowe.
A potential family scandal surrounds the reasons for this bequest and there are additional complications. Callie is to share the inheritance with Ben Galbraith, a Scotsman, who’d helped Hawkridge’s owner in his final years. Also, the property can’t be sold for twelve months.
Callie’s life is in Townsville with her teenage twin daughters and six year old son. Ben plans to return to Scotland. How can they negotiate an entire year of caring for Hawkridge? And as they try to work together, is there more at stake than the property’s future?
Set on the picturesque hinterland of Australia's tropical far north, this is a deeply moving and uplifting story about making the most of the unexpected opportunities life throws your way. Ideal for fans of Tricia Stringer and Fiona Lowe.
- GenresContemporary
373 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 24, 2025
24 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hannay
412 books293 followersMulti award winning author, Barbara Hannay, is a city bred girl with a yen for country life. Most of her 50 plus books are set in rural and outback Australia and they've been enjoyed by readers around the world.
Barbara has been nominated five times for Romance Writers of America's RITA Award which she won in 2007 and she has twice won Australia's Romantic Book of the Year award.
In her own version of life imitating art, Barbara and her husband currently live on a misty hillside in beautiful Far North Queensland where they keep heritage pigs, hens, ducks, turkeys and an untidy but productive garden.
Visit Barbara's website at www.barbarahannay.com
Follow her on Facebook and Twitter
Barbara has been nominated five times for Romance Writers of America's RITA Award which she won in 2007 and she has twice won Australia's Romantic Book of the Year award.
In her own version of life imitating art, Barbara and her husband currently live on a misty hillside in beautiful Far North Queensland where they keep heritage pigs, hens, ducks, turkeys and an untidy but productive garden.
Visit Barbara's website at www.barbarahannay.com
Follow her on Facebook and Twitter
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 17, 2025
Callie Madden, living in Townsville with her three children, teenage twin girls Jenna and Grace, and six year old son Joey, was a widow after her husband Mitch had died unexpectedly a few years prior. Grief still tore at Callie's throat on occasion, but she did her best with her family, while running her photography business. When Callie received a letter from a solicitor's office in Far North Queensland, she was shocked to see she'd received an inheritance - and from a man she'd never heard of before. Travelling to the meeting on the Tablelands, Callie thoughts were all of a muddle. The inheritance was a property - Hawkridge - and she now owned half of it, along with Scot, Ben Galbraith, who had cared for the owner before he died. The conditions were also confusing - they had to run the property without selling it for twelve months. As Ben showed Callie through Hawkridge, she was blown away by its beauty. The views surrounding the farm were spectacular - she could see the photos she would take. But how could they work this out - Callie's life was in Townsville?
Second Chance Family is another outstanding read by Aussie author Barbara Hannay, set in her beloved tropical Tablelands. The characters are delightful, little Joey is a star! But so are Jenna and Grace. The picturesque beauty the author describes is easily visualised, such is her talent. I've never been that far north in Australia, but would love to one day. Highly recommended.
With thanks to Penguin Random House AU and the author for my ARC to read and review.
Second Chance Family is another outstanding read by Aussie author Barbara Hannay, set in her beloved tropical Tablelands. The characters are delightful, little Joey is a star! But so are Jenna and Grace. The picturesque beauty the author describes is easily visualised, such is her talent. I've never been that far north in Australia, but would love to one day. Highly recommended.
With thanks to Penguin Random House AU and the author for my ARC to read and review.
July 13, 2025
Queensland, Australia. Callie Madden is a widow and she lives in Townville with her three children, fourteen year old identical twins Jenna and Grace and six year old Joey; and five years ago her husband Mitch died suddenly of a heart attack. Callie is busy juggling her loss and photography business, taking her children to school and sport.
Unexpectedly a letter arrives from a solicitor in the Far North of the state addressed to Callie, and she’s sure they have made some kind of a mistake? Callie's shocked to learn she’s been listed as a beneficiary in a will, she’s been left one half of Hawkridge, a beautiful farm and old house in the Tablelands and Ben Gailbraith a Scotchman is the other recipient, he worked for the owner and it can’t be sold for twelve months.
The windfall is a legacy for her children, the plan is to sell the property in a year and she assumes Ben will return to Scotland and they need to concentrate on sprucing up the house and getting it ready to put on the market. To do this she does take Jenna, Grace and Joey to visit over the summer holidays and she’s surprised by their reaction to living on a farm.
I received a copy of Second Chance Family from Barbara Hannay and Penguin Random House Australia in exchange for an unbiased review. The whole concept behind the narrative was thought provoking, I really liked the characters and especially Callie and her children, and how she always put them first and led by example and the banter and relationship between the twins.
I enjoyed reading the descriptions of Atherton Tablelands, from sitting outside admiring the lush green view, to seeing a platypus swimming and newborn baby calf and the joy and peace it brings and Ms Hannay makes you feel like you are there and I want to visit.
With an emphasis on secrets and overcoming the past, not holding a grudge, unexpected opportunities and change, with a kind and hunky Scotsman who makes an impact on Callie and her kids and I really wanted Ben to stay in Australia.
Emotional and captivating, I adored Second Chance Family, I highly recommend the novel and five stars.
Unexpectedly a letter arrives from a solicitor in the Far North of the state addressed to Callie, and she’s sure they have made some kind of a mistake? Callie's shocked to learn she’s been listed as a beneficiary in a will, she’s been left one half of Hawkridge, a beautiful farm and old house in the Tablelands and Ben Gailbraith a Scotchman is the other recipient, he worked for the owner and it can’t be sold for twelve months.
The windfall is a legacy for her children, the plan is to sell the property in a year and she assumes Ben will return to Scotland and they need to concentrate on sprucing up the house and getting it ready to put on the market. To do this she does take Jenna, Grace and Joey to visit over the summer holidays and she’s surprised by their reaction to living on a farm.
I received a copy of Second Chance Family from Barbara Hannay and Penguin Random House Australia in exchange for an unbiased review. The whole concept behind the narrative was thought provoking, I really liked the characters and especially Callie and her children, and how she always put them first and led by example and the banter and relationship between the twins.
I enjoyed reading the descriptions of Atherton Tablelands, from sitting outside admiring the lush green view, to seeing a platypus swimming and newborn baby calf and the joy and peace it brings and Ms Hannay makes you feel like you are there and I want to visit.
With an emphasis on secrets and overcoming the past, not holding a grudge, unexpected opportunities and change, with a kind and hunky Scotsman who makes an impact on Callie and her kids and I really wanted Ben to stay in Australia.
Emotional and captivating, I adored Second Chance Family, I highly recommend the novel and five stars.
June 21, 2025
What another fabulous story from Barbara Hannay, written with love and heart-felt emotion, this beautiful story brings to life Callie Madden and her three children fourteen year old identical twins Jenna and Grace and six year old Joey, Callie has been a widow for five years now after her husband Mitch died suddenly of a heart attack, come along to meet them all.
Callie is a photographer and works hard keeping everything going, grief still shows up here and there but by the time she works and gets the kids to their different sports etc. there is never much time for herself and then out of the blue a letter arrives from a solicitor up in far north Queensland saying that he would like to meet her regarding her being a beneficiary in a will from a man she has never heard of, this takes Callie on a trip up the mountains to get answers.
What she discovers could cause a few problems in the family when she learns she has inherited half of a one hundred acre property, Hawkridge high up in the mountains the other beneficiary is a Scotsman Ben Gailbraith, who has been working the property and gotten to know the owner well and that they must not sell the property for one year.
After Ben shows Callie around the property she is left in sixes and sevens as to what will happen, her life is in Townsville with her children and family but this will be a legacy for her children and with Ben moving back to Scotland in one year they work on selling in twelve months and deciding to do renovations, but she will bring the children up for four weeks during the Christmas holidays and those four weeks will change how Callie thinks about her future.
Could there be a future for Callie, Ben and the children her on Hawkridge?
This is a beautiful story that I loved, the setting is just gorgeous and the descriptions from MS. Hannay had me sitting around that table in the yard watching the sunsets and sunrises with the family. Callie and Ben are just awesome characters as are the children I loved Joey and the twins, they made me smile and yes there were tears happy tears while I was reading this one, so many emotions, a true story of family and love.
I do highly recommend this one to any lover of a good story.
My thanks to Penguin Random House AU and the Author for my ARC to read and review
Callie is a photographer and works hard keeping everything going, grief still shows up here and there but by the time she works and gets the kids to their different sports etc. there is never much time for herself and then out of the blue a letter arrives from a solicitor up in far north Queensland saying that he would like to meet her regarding her being a beneficiary in a will from a man she has never heard of, this takes Callie on a trip up the mountains to get answers.
What she discovers could cause a few problems in the family when she learns she has inherited half of a one hundred acre property, Hawkridge high up in the mountains the other beneficiary is a Scotsman Ben Gailbraith, who has been working the property and gotten to know the owner well and that they must not sell the property for one year.
After Ben shows Callie around the property she is left in sixes and sevens as to what will happen, her life is in Townsville with her children and family but this will be a legacy for her children and with Ben moving back to Scotland in one year they work on selling in twelve months and deciding to do renovations, but she will bring the children up for four weeks during the Christmas holidays and those four weeks will change how Callie thinks about her future.
Could there be a future for Callie, Ben and the children her on Hawkridge?
This is a beautiful story that I loved, the setting is just gorgeous and the descriptions from MS. Hannay had me sitting around that table in the yard watching the sunsets and sunrises with the family. Callie and Ben are just awesome characters as are the children I loved Joey and the twins, they made me smile and yes there were tears happy tears while I was reading this one, so many emotions, a true story of family and love.
I do highly recommend this one to any lover of a good story.
My thanks to Penguin Random House AU and the Author for my ARC to read and review
June 29, 2025
Big thanks to Penguin and Barbara for sending us a copy to read and review.
Popular Aussie contemporary fiction author Barbara Hannay releases her newest book into the world.
A heartfelt, invigorating and relatable story and one that will warm those reading sensations.
Widow and mum of three, Callie is shocked to discover she has inherited half of Hawkridge, a country mountain property in Far North Queensland.
The other half now belongs to Ben, a Scotsman who has been working there.
There’s a catch, it can’t be sold for twelve months.
Callie wonders about the reasoning and soon uncovers a secret from the past.
With her twin daughters, Jenna and Grace and son Joey, they decide to spend a month there doing some renovations and escaping the city.
What Callie doesn’t plan is to take a liking to Ben and falling for the country.
Working together, is there a future for them……
A consistent writer who continues to weave her narrative power to entertain and engage the reader.
The events of this novel include life situations, disruptive events, touching moments, family dynamics and second chance love.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her cast of characters, her inviting plot and the country setting.
Highly readable and entertaining.
Popular Aussie contemporary fiction author Barbara Hannay releases her newest book into the world.
A heartfelt, invigorating and relatable story and one that will warm those reading sensations.
Widow and mum of three, Callie is shocked to discover she has inherited half of Hawkridge, a country mountain property in Far North Queensland.
The other half now belongs to Ben, a Scotsman who has been working there.
There’s a catch, it can’t be sold for twelve months.
Callie wonders about the reasoning and soon uncovers a secret from the past.
With her twin daughters, Jenna and Grace and son Joey, they decide to spend a month there doing some renovations and escaping the city.
What Callie doesn’t plan is to take a liking to Ben and falling for the country.
Working together, is there a future for them……
A consistent writer who continues to weave her narrative power to entertain and engage the reader.
The events of this novel include life situations, disruptive events, touching moments, family dynamics and second chance love.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her cast of characters, her inviting plot and the country setting.
Highly readable and entertaining.
June 23, 2025
Second Chance Family by Barbara Hannay is a story set in cattle country on a property named Hawkridge which has orchards and a cabin attached in the 'misty mountains' of the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland.
There's a complex family mystery woven in between the pages to be revealed later on as the story unfolds and the complications of Wills and Estates and how they affect everyone involved.
It's partly a story about twins and how they often 'mirror' each other but later on in life wish to retain their own individuality.
This is a beautiful new novel to snuggle into this season with cosy Christmas, New Year's Eve and Traditional Scottish themes.
Enjoy Second Chance Family a new release by Barbara Hannay ~ out now.
Thank you to Penguin Random House and the author, Barbara Hannay for my ARC ~ Advance Review Copy.
Absolutely, loved it!
* Note: There's a Scottish tradition ~ beware of a tall, dark haired man bearing gifts of Whisky and Shortbread on New Year's Eve!
Barbara Hannay's website is: www.barbarahannay.com
There's a complex family mystery woven in between the pages to be revealed later on as the story unfolds and the complications of Wills and Estates and how they affect everyone involved.
It's partly a story about twins and how they often 'mirror' each other but later on in life wish to retain their own individuality.
This is a beautiful new novel to snuggle into this season with cosy Christmas, New Year's Eve and Traditional Scottish themes.
Enjoy Second Chance Family a new release by Barbara Hannay ~ out now.
Thank you to Penguin Random House and the author, Barbara Hannay for my ARC ~ Advance Review Copy.
Absolutely, loved it!
* Note: There's a Scottish tradition ~ beware of a tall, dark haired man bearing gifts of Whisky and Shortbread on New Year's Eve!
Barbara Hannay's website is: www.barbarahannay.com
July 26, 2025
Loved it!
January 15, 2026
Such a beautiful warm hug of a story! 🥰
July 20, 2025
An excellent read.
August 5, 2025
From the first chapter, Second Chance Family had me hooked.
Callie Madden is a widow and mother of three whose life takes a surprising turn when she inherits half of Hawkridge, a stunning rural property in Far North Queensland. The other half belongs to Ben, a Scotsman she’s never met. The twist? They have to share the property for a year before it can be sold.
Callie is a beautifully relatable character—strong, determined, and full of love. I felt real empathy for her. And while the romance with Ben is hinted at early on, the journey is full of unexpected moments that keep the story engaging.
This was an enjoyable, cozy read with a strong sense of place and a lovely, satisfying ending.
Callie Madden is a widow and mother of three whose life takes a surprising turn when she inherits half of Hawkridge, a stunning rural property in Far North Queensland. The other half belongs to Ben, a Scotsman she’s never met. The twist? They have to share the property for a year before it can be sold.
Callie is a beautifully relatable character—strong, determined, and full of love. I felt real empathy for her. And while the romance with Ben is hinted at early on, the journey is full of unexpected moments that keep the story engaging.
This was an enjoyable, cozy read with a strong sense of place and a lovely, satisfying ending.
June 25, 2025
Once again you have written another great read Barbara Hannay.
Story based in the Atherton tablelands and all about family emotions when faced with the challenges you face. I loved the way the book was written describing the emotions of Callie and her three children after losing her husband and the children's father. Discover the hidden secrets that become a surprise to the family...
loved this story and can highly recommend
Story based in the Atherton tablelands and all about family emotions when faced with the challenges you face. I loved the way the book was written describing the emotions of Callie and her three children after losing her husband and the children's father. Discover the hidden secrets that become a surprise to the family...
loved this story and can highly recommend
July 4, 2025
Another lovely read from Barbara Hannay
Second chance family is about two people who are thrust together in unlikely circumstances. Callie is a grieving widow and Ben, a Scotsman, are suddenly thrust together to manage their inherited property of Hawkridge. Neither has plans to stay in far north Queensland. And Yet...
This was a wonderful read, full of romance, a second chance romance.
Second chance family is about two people who are thrust together in unlikely circumstances. Callie is a grieving widow and Ben, a Scotsman, are suddenly thrust together to manage their inherited property of Hawkridge. Neither has plans to stay in far north Queensland. And Yet...
This was a wonderful read, full of romance, a second chance romance.
June 24, 2025
I read this in a night. I loved it.
Hawkridge felt so real and I think I need to plan a trip to the Atherton Tablelands. Hopefully I will see Callie and Ben there.
Hawkridge felt so real and I think I need to plan a trip to the Atherton Tablelands. Hopefully I will see Callie and Ben there.
October 28, 2025
I haven't read a book by Barbara for quite a while (only 2 before this one). Love this one, a beautiful, heartwarming story. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
December 25, 2025
What a lovely story
August 11, 2025
The perfect formula!
There is a good reason Hannay is regarded as one of the best rural romance writers in Australia - books like this one!
What a heart-warming, emotional story (even if you know exactly how it is going to end). It was so lovely to meet widowed Callie Madden and her three beautiful children, fourteen-year-old identical twins Jenna and Grace,and six-year-old Joey, in this novel. And not to be overshadowed, Scotsman Ben Gailbraith - perfect casting!
The setting made me want to hop on a plane to North Queensland. Hawkridge, the mountains, the bird life, the farm - it all came to life in every detail.
A lovely read whenever you need some reality with a dash of optimism and a happy ending.
There is a good reason Hannay is regarded as one of the best rural romance writers in Australia - books like this one!
What a heart-warming, emotional story (even if you know exactly how it is going to end). It was so lovely to meet widowed Callie Madden and her three beautiful children, fourteen-year-old identical twins Jenna and Grace,and six-year-old Joey, in this novel. And not to be overshadowed, Scotsman Ben Gailbraith - perfect casting!
The setting made me want to hop on a plane to North Queensland. Hawkridge, the mountains, the bird life, the farm - it all came to life in every detail.
A lovely read whenever you need some reality with a dash of optimism and a happy ending.
June 22, 2025
Congratulations Barbara on this wonderful story of love lost, long held family secret that could tear happy families apart, hidden feelings & so real life. Loved Callie & Ben. The kids Jenna, Grace Joey were such great kids. The description of the scenery at Hawkridge Station & the
Tablelands was so inspiring throughout the story.
Highly recommended
Tablelands was so inspiring throughout the story.
Highly recommended
August 1, 2025
I don't know how Barbara Hannay does it? Another beautifully crafted story that wraps its arms around the reader and transports us to another place. Callie and Ben's story was down to earth, realistic and hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed being on the misty tablelands of north Queensland and can't wait for the next book. Thank you!
August 5, 2025
I enjoy these books set in the Atherton Tablelands. Very easy to read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews