All he wants to do now is see his children Scarlet, Theo and Ben. Standing in his way are the children's grandparents, who are prepared to go to any length to keep him away.
Readers will find themselves siding with one person then another as this emotionally charged story unfolds.
Norman says she got the idea for the story from her days as a barrister specialising in crime and family law in the northeast of England.
She was acting for the children of a man who had murdered his wife.
"When he came into court the atmosphere instantly changed ... he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. He wasn't nice," Norman says.
"I wondered (not at the time but years later) what would happen if the husband was nice and if the circumstances of the wife's death were something you could understand."
Norman has spent a decade writing and says with a growing family she tends to write about children.
"Children add colour and inevitably tend to take over the stage," she laughs.
She also says that names play a big part in planning a book.
"Names do matter. I try to avoid names of people I know. I usually go through baby name books.
"I tend to go down less dead ends if I have the names of my characters right."
To get a feel for her characters she tries to walk in other people's shoes and try different hobbies and interests.
Norman is already working on her fourth book.
She says she is determined to be more disciplined with her fourth book.
"I have three children so when they go to school I write all day ... well in practice. In reality I check my emails and people pop around. I sometimes go to the library where there is no internet access or I'll write on my laptop while sitting in the car waiting for the children, or go to The Coffee Club.
"I also write at night.
"I'm trying to be less chaotic. I had to lock myself away in a cottage on the coast to finish this book. It's a blur of late nights.
"I didn't see anyone for days."
I for one am looking forward to more from this very talented writer.
