Another brilliant book from a really decent writer. From Happy to sad, all the emotions covered in this book. Friendships lots of us create at the school gate. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy.

Wow a fantastic read that truly looks at relationships and friendships in depth! Totally relatable, true to life and believable!
Six couples who have known each other for over 20 years, friendships formed when they were much younger but developed over the years as they celebrated children, milestones, holidays, birthdays etc until suddenly it all changed when an affair happened between two of them! The whole group dynamic changed with far reaching repercussions for all involved affecting the males, females and children!
The devastation, guilt, unhappiness and soul searching that followed the excitement, thrill and sex with a new person changed/altered the couple involved, their wronged spouses, their children and their friendship group, could they recover from this? Move on? Learn? The grass isn’t always greener on the other side!
The power/legacy of female friendship is illustrated so well highlighting strength,tenacity and forgiveness!
Would highly recommend
Thank you netgalley for this early read.

I very much enjoyed this book. I read it very slowly and savoured it; for me it's not one to devour in one go. The writing is lovely and I liked the style but it's the characters and the "simple" story that makes it. There are a lot of characters and it did take me a while to remember who was who and which children belonged to which parents but the story soon focuses in on a few. Each character is different enough to be very real and I loved that overall it was just people living very ordinary, relatable lives. Well, maybe a bit more glamourous! And just one act sends ripples through marriages, through children's relationships and through a friendship group. The varying opinions on what happened rang very true for me. And while it had a lovely, satisfying ending, it wasn't all neatly tied up. I was sad to finish it and let the characters go.

A fantastic read that I finishedin one very short sitting. Well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that were relatable and believeable in every aspect.

This was a very intelligent and true to life read about a group of six couples who’ve known each other around 20 years and have a strong group dynamic. When two of them have an affair it implodes not only their own marriages but the relationships within the group too. For me this is one of those reads where you feel you can really place yourself within the story, not because I’ve been in this situation but because of the way it’s told and how well the author gets inside the characters heads and to the core of them. Obviously this isn’t a lighthearted read but it’s not challenging although it may be uncomfortable reading for some, there are some uplifting moments within it but the subject matter of adultery is very credibly told from many angles. Overall this felt like a very real group of friends and a very real situation, it is a fantastic piece of writing. 9/10

Brilliant. Read in a night. A story of 6 school mummies who met in the playground and slowly became friends over many years. Then one of them “lit a bomb”so to speak . Absolutely loved it. I wanted the Dorset house. The ending was everything you could want from sad and happy.