Births, Deaths and Marriages
From the author of the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller, The Versions of Us...
Four Weddings and a Funeral for the new generation.
Zoe, Al, Rachel, Rob, Yas and Indie. Six friends who were inseparable at university, who have all had their secret or not so secret passions for each other, their own hopes and fears.
Over the years, they have gone their separate ways. Rob is a history teacher, with a string of broken relationships behind him. Yas is a surgeon and very much her own woman. Indie is married and a successful coffee entrepreneur. Rachel is a stay at home mum with two children. Al, widowed young, is about to take over his father's funeral business.
When Rob's engagement party throws the gang together once more, some passions are reignited, old connections and resentments resurface. Over the next twelve months, there will, among the friends, be a birth, a marriage, and a death – but whose?
Set over one year and told from multiple perspectives, BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES is an era-spanning, globe-trotting novel about love, friendship, and how to stay at least relatively sane in an ever crazier world. It’s about a group of friends growing older, a pair of sometime lovers finding their way back to each other, about kindness and joy. It’s about births, deaths, marriages, and everything in between.
Reviews
Laura Barnett skilfully handles a large cast of characters, who we come to adore and champion, as she weaves a compelling tale about love and friendship in all its guises. Her exquisite line by line writing and astute character observations held me rapt. A novel to be devoured.
Immersive
A perfect, can't put-down summer read, but be warned, there will be tears!
I loved BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES. Laura's ability to jump between so many different lives and to keep those strands alive in the reader's mind reminded me of BLUE SISTERS by Coco Mellors.
Wonderful... beautifully written, superbly characterised and so truthful.
A book to sink into... a nuanced, compelling and comforting read that reminds us about the power, support and importance of found family.
A beautifully written story about second chances. We couldn't turn the pages fast enough
(A) must read
A beautiful read
There'll be a lot of head nodding as you read this; it will bring you back to house sharing with friends and memories of being a student and feeling invincible
A luminous life-affirming read
A lovely, absorbing read
Measured (and) quietly poignant
Showing 5 of 13 reviews
