It’s ten years since I reviewed Laura Barnett’s The Versions of Us which, rereading my review, I obviously enjoyed but never got around to reading anything else by her. She writes absorbing, well turned-out fiction, tending towards the commercial end of the scale. Her new novel follows a group of six friends over the year they each turn forty, two decades after they first met at university.
They care, deeply and passionately, about each other, in ways that are known to all of them, and in other private ways that are not.
Zoe, Rob, Rachel, Yas, Al and Indie met by chance at the funeral of a fellow student, killed in a hit and run accident in 2003, forming the kind of friendship that can last a lifetime. Twenty years later, they’re looking forty in the face, some more scarred than others: Al has lost his beloved wife, Zoe has brought up a child virtually on her own, Yas’s mother is still in recovery from cancer. All of them take up Rob’s invitation to celebrate his engagement to the wealthy Gesualdo who’s planned a sumptuous wedding for New Year’s Eve. Some are more in touch than others: Zoe’s midwifery skills have helped Rachel through her pregnancies, Yas shares the stress of an over-burdened NHS with Zoe, albeit from a surgeon’s point of view. Beginning with an engagement and ending with a marriage, this will be a significant year for all of them: lives will be changed irrevocably, old desires reawakened, there will be unimaginable loss but unexpected joy, too.
Kindness, and selfishness, and beneath it all, love, that low rising fundamental chord. Births, deaths and marriages. The ordinary beauty of this turning world.
Barnett handles her structure beautifully, flitting in and out of the friends’ lives, exploring their often-complicated relationships as they face love, loss, joy, the general grind of the day-to-day just as we all do. Her characters are well drawn and believable, each of them dealing with challenges mid-life often throws up. Climate change is subtly woven through it as is the shadow cast by the pandemic but it’s the characters that are to the fore in this enjoyable novel which celebrates the durability of friendships that have weathered the storm of growing up. Life goes on, and sometimes it’s tough, but friends can make it easier to bear. I suspect this one was heartfelt for Barnett who’s just over forty, herself, and faced the deaths of both her father and her stepfather last year as the touching dedication makes clear.
Doubleday: London 9780857529718 368 pages Hardback (Read via NetGalley)
Discover more from A Life in Books
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This book sounds like a TV programme with all the characters and plotlines. I saw an article recently about the bereavements she has experienced. I hadn’t heard of this author. It comes across as a summertime read.
That’s it exactly, and it would make an excellent TV series if done well.
I’ll give this one a go. Like you, I enjoyed Versions of Us, but I didn’t love her second novel, Greatest Hits (I think it came out around the same time as Daisy Jones & the Six, so was perhaps overlooked by the hype of that book). Anyway, the one wonderful thing about Greatest Hits was that Barnett wrote songs for her fictional character and had them recorded (in real life) – impressive!
That is impressive! I enjoyed Daisy Jones for much the same reasons I liked this one.
I too, have only read The Versions of Us, but will look out for her others and this one.
I’m a sucker for books about friendship and this one works so well. I hope you enjoy it if you get to it, Annabel.
I never went further than Versions of Us either. One thing that struck me about that book was the level of planning that she must have done to keep the different versions of her character’s lives in order. Sounds like there is something similar going on with this new one
It is meticulously planned but I suspect she didn’t need to have quite so many post its as for Versions of Us. I’d assume she’s a planner by nature, though.
Oh, this sounds very good! I’m right in that age myself too and there’s a fair bit of transition amongst my peers as we all head into our 40s.
This sounds right up your street then. It’s a brilliant, intelligent summer read.
I love the sound of this one. I don’t see it available yet here in the States but will definitely keep an eye out for it (or give up and order from Foyles). It sounds like something I’d enjoy.
I thoroughly enjoyed it! She’s at the very accomplished end of commercial fiction.
‘A brilliant, intelligent summer read’ sounds perect!
It was just the ticket for me!
I’ve never read her, although I remember The Versions of Us. You’ve definitely tempted me with this one!
Pleased to hear that!
I really struggled with The Versions of Us (I LOVE a Sliding Doors premise and I felt it didn’t do much with it) but I thought Barnett’s second novel Greatest Hits was very strong, so I’d definitely be up for trying more by her. This one sounds very good.
I’m a sucker for the catching up with friends structure. Just right when I’m after something undemanding but well turned out if handled well. I’m not sure why I didn’t get around to Greatest Hits. Adding it to my list.
Enjoyed but didn’t get around to reading anything else: such a common refrain in this reader’s corner of the world. (Especially with writers in this sector, it seems.) But it’s worth it to return, often, it’s just a matter of how many reading hours/day one’s parsing out.
Exactly that! There never are enough are there.