Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.

Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives. Jack, her father, who seeks vengeance against the one person he can blame other than himself; her best friend, Mo, who bravely searches for the truth as the story of their survival is rewritten; her sister Chloe, who knows Finn lingers and yearns to join her; and her mother, Ann, who saved them all but is haunted by her decisions. Finn needs to move on, but how can she with her family still in pieces?

Heartrending yet ultimately redemptive, In an Instant is a story about the power of love, the meaning of family, and carrying on...even when it seems impossible.

Listening Length

10 hours and 43 minutes
Author

Suzanne Redfearn
Narrator

Jesse Vilinsky
Audible release date

1 March 2020
Language

English
Publisher

Brilliance Audio
ASIN

B07Y8V6TPK
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	10 hours and 43 minutes
Author	Suzanne Redfearn
Narrator	Jesse Vilinsky
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	01 March 2020
Publisher	Brilliance Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07Y8V6TPK
Best Sellers Rank	34,403 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 329 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 698 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 1,081 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

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2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Australia

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How we handle ourselves in crises

Reviewed in Australia on 3 February 2021

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Didn’t think I was going to like this book at first, but it becomes more interesting after the accident. Two families plus two others are in a van heading for some fun in the snow when a stag on the road sends them crashing down the mountain side. The driver father is badly injured. His daughter in front dies and from then on becomes a ghostly fly on the wall reporter on the aftermath. Some good and some bad choices are made. Some truth is fudged. There is guilt and self recrimination as well as bravery and we can’t help but consider what we would do in such a situation. The two marriages are severely tested and the author makes the point that - sadly - it is the people with the least amount of conscience who suffer the least, unburdened by regret. The author has made good choices in her characters and the psychic lines that tie them together. (Or which loosen.)

Other points raised: is one death better than two? What is it okay to do when your own biological instinct to survive is running you, especially if you’re a parent? How would our beloved dead prefer us to react? If you’re in loco parentis, what obligations do you have to the child who is not your own? The author tells us in an afterword that in a similar situation in her young life, her father ran to get help. The remaining father rubbed the hands and feet of his own children but not hers and her brother’s, which led to her brother losing some digits to frostbite, as in this story. An interesting and thought provoking read.

One person found this helpful

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clare burns

an instant of time is longer than you think

Reviewed in Australia on 15 November 2021

Verified Purchase

Who wants to ugly cry as you've never done before? I'm talking full-blown, gut-wrenching sobbing, snot in your mouth, tears running uncontrolled, horrific painful there is nothing in the world that will help me get over this, ugly crying?

Who wants to try to describe the story you just read, only to find your voice cracking with the need to cry again? Who wants to read a story that will stay with you in such a way that when you think about it while driving your car, you can't help the tears that start to burn your eyes?

This is pretty much the hardest. most heartbreaking book I've read in a long time, possibly ever and I couldn't wait to share it with you. stumbled across this book buried in my kindle TBR list and mistakenly started it at 8 pm on Sunday night... 1 am I had to force myself to put it aside in order to get a few hours of sleep before work. I dove back in during my lunch break - bad idea because I barely ate and had to lock myself in my office so no one could see my tears. After work, I was back in again and now I feel wrung out and utterly heartbroken after reading this story. The story is so painful, and yet so compelling and magnificent to read that you're never going to want to put it down. Now I've finished it, all I want to do is go back and start again in the hope of changing just one little thing and saving everyone, characters, other readers and definitely myself the pain that they are about to experience. This story quite frankly is like nothing I've ever read before and this author has a truly amazing gift.

Do yourself a favour, stock up on tissues, lock the family out of the house for a day or two, take the phone off the hook, pull on your daggy t-shirt and leggings and prepare to torture yourself and destroy your own heart and soul. You'll be glad you did - eventually.

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Leonie Lynch

So So Good!!

Reviewed in Australia on 12 February 2020

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What a great story. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading it. Generally I would not think that writing from a teenage point of view would be something I would like but wow.........this was excellent. The fall out after an accident was incredible and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a story about the dynamics within families. A truly wonderful read - did not want it to end.

2 people found this helpful

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Rhonda Hudson

The best book I have ever read.

Reviewed in Australia on 9 March 2021

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The most amazing book I have ever read, and I read a lot! I’m recommending this book to everyone I know who enjoys a good read. Daughter in law couldn’t put it down and read it in a weekend. Do yourself a favour and read it. If aliens landed from another planet I would hand them this book to understand humans.

One person found this helpful

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deerose

Beautiful and thought provoking

Reviewed in Australia on 23 March 2021

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This was a sad and beautiful story. I loved the perspective of Finn who hovered between life and death and gave her perspective on events and people. I also liked the author’s personal story at the end. It will really make me think twice with leaving my kids in others hands.

One person found this helpful

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Dave Morrison

Moving and Thought Provoking

Reviewed in Australia on 7 June 2021

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I don’t usually read this type of story but its reviews sparked my interest and I’m glad they did. Well written from the deceased character’s point-of-view, the narrative explores the way in which different individuals react to adversity and trauma and forces the reader to question how they might react in similar circumstances. The storyline made me laugh and at times, moved me close to tears. Nobody knows what awaits us after this life but the writer portrays a place where those that are taken before their time can eventually be at peace. I highly recommend this book.

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Amazon Customer

Captivating read

Reviewed in Australia on 27 June 2021

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This book captured me instantly and I couldn’t put it down, I loved the way it was written and from the view point of Finn. It gave a perspective of the other characters you wouldn’t normally see which I found really interesting.
My only slight issue with the book is that I don’t feel Oz character was represented well and at points didn’t feel comfortable with what was written about him .

Overall a great book

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Aunty Spud

Compelling

Reviewed in Australia on 12 February 2020

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I found it difficult to put this book down, and was looking for ways in my day to sneak a few extra minutes with it, although I didn't want it to end. Everyone handles grief and adversity differently and it was shown here. It made me smile and it made me cry. It will stay with me for a while, I think. The author's own experiences from which the events were drawn makes it even more real.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Barb

Heartbreaking but I wouldn’t have missed this book for the world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2020

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Brilliantly written, such a sad and awful tragedy for everyone involved but beautifully told with some humour, mainly from Finn, (it isn’t unremittingly bleak) and with such a depth of feeling. Ultimately, the tragedy and it’s aftermath can’t be undone, everyone is altered in some way but light does begin to shine and some good things do eventually start happen.
I read this book over the weekend, it is now Monday and I can’t stop thinking about it - that’s never happened before!
I haven’t mentioned the plot as you can read that in the book description and in other reviews, but I I highly recommend that you read this book.

35 people found this helpful

Avid Mystery Reader

Adult Language the Worst I Have Ever Read

Reviewed in the United States on 1 March 2020

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If I could give this book a lower rating I woukd. I just got this book and after a few pages it when back for a refund. I was totally offended by the adult sacrilegious language. The worst I have ever read in a book. I will never read anything by this author. I am sure that the story is interesting as the premise/theme was what made me order it, but th language is beyond offensive for Christian readers.

560 people found this helpful

bookworm24

Moving story of loss, love, relationships and difficult choices during and after a traumatic event.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 February 2020

Verified Purchase

Sensitively written story about loss, love and difficult choices. I didn’t think that I was going to like a book that used a dead narrator ( I hated The Lovely Bones) but the author uses Finn in a way that is sympathetic rather than sentimental and the characters and their stories remained in my mind long after I’d finished the book. Highly recommended.

23 people found this helpful

Lynda Kelly

Sooooooooooperb !!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 February 2020

Verified Purchase

Soooooooperb is what I noted down at the end of reading this book !! And indeed it is. Granted, there isn't a lot of cheeriness involved, though neither expected if you've read the synopsis, but it is so well done and so well presented that I for one just loved it. Despite the fact I found myself snivelling and sobbing in probably half a dozen places at least !!
I picked this in all honesty as my Kindle First choice this month where not one of the offerings really stood out to me so that made it an even better experience, since I wasn't expecting to get quite that invested in it. It was all over too soon, really. If I had paid fullprice for it I'd be feeling robbed that it only took me a day to read. Hehehe.......I really just couldn't put it down.
There are some terrific characters, real people here. I found your mood with each of them pretty much alters as things progress. Aside from Finn there probably isn't one of them you rolled your eyes about or cheered for at differing sections......quite a clever feat. Usually I like or intensely despise a character from the word go and stick with first impressions but this bunch keep you on your toes. My favourite character is probably Mo. Though many had heroic and not-so-heroic characteristics, she shone through for me. I really liked Finn's philosophy on alcohol, too, an highly interesting observation.
But the tears.....for the carrot, for Charlie, for kittens and of course for our narrator Finn.
The only things I spotted I think are wrong was writing coal and not kohl and not capitalising Greek and French so altogether this is definitely going to be one of my top reads for 2020, without a doubt.
Off now to look up the author's other books to add to my wishlist.

16 people found this helpful

Serenity...

~~The gamut of human emotions...~~

Reviewed in the United States on 1 February 2020

Verified Purchase

This novel is a tough one to read in that it covers the gamut of nearly every human emotion. Such joy and happiness as the group of 10 are packing the Miller Mobile for a 3 day trip to their cabin. Bewilderment, sadness, sorrow, and more emotions will follow as this progresses. .

The author did an excellent job in portraying each of these people ...before, during and after the incident. Some of the characters felt no remorse or regret...not even a little ...whereas others felt the guilt that survivors feel. An amazing weaving of their thoughts previously into the 'now'... Each one of the survivors reacted differently to their lives afterwards.

Finn, age 16, keeps a watchful eye on the survivors throughout and the reader will become mesmerized at her 'speeches' and thoughts. The funeral for Finn was poignant and also filled with love for her life. Love and sorrow were in great evidence in the overflowing church.

Human nature and its complexity was present throughout in the characters. There is great sadness in survival and one thing is evident to me... we really don't know one another as well as we should in life.

As Ann Miller (Mom of the family) stated 'We do not control our reactions, only our actions'...excellent, just excellent.

I will admit to getting cold when reading the beginning of this novel. I turned the heat up in the cabin but still felt the chill and the brutal cold the ones in the Miller Mobile were feeling...(Talk about an author getting into one's head!).

So glad that I selected this as my First Read for February 2020. I was not disappointed for one page...not even one.

Most highly recommended.

515 people found this helpful

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