Occasionally Frost Magazine has a treat and receives a review of a book they’ve already featured. It’s good to see another take, and The People at Number.9  seems to please most people.

Penny Gerrard has this to say: Felicity Everett’s first book “The Story of Us” was hugely enjoyable, and I have been looking forward to her second, though have  had to wait four years while she has been in Australia.

The wait was worth it because this is a fascinating book dealing with the complex interwoven relationship between two very different couples.    Sara and Neil are conventional  – Sara a copywriter and Neil a manager for a Housing Association.   Sara suspects that she has a novel  inside her and Neil is hoping  to rise up the ladder to the top of the housing association tree.     The other couple are new neighbours Lou – a glamorous and unpredictable maker of art films and her husband Gavin – a successful artist.    To the more staid couple Neil and Sara, Gavin and Lou’s lives seem wild, free and exciting and increasingly they find they are being taken over by the overpowering newcomers.

Most of us expect that making friends with another couple will be a positive experience but  this compelling novel certainly raises doubts about whether that’s always the case.   Can a friendship with a demanding and unusual couple lift a steady but rather unexciting marriage, or will it damage it beyond repair?  I can guarantee that you won’t be able to wait to find out as you read this well-crafted and satisfying book.

The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett pub HQ hb £12.99/eBook £5.99/Audio Edition £12.99