The Barbecue at Number Nine
By: Jennie Godfrey
ISBN: 9781464275029
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landpar
Puublication Date: 04/06/27
Format: Paperback
My Rating: TBR (ARC)
Behind every perfect family is a perfect lie
It's the summer of 1985 and Hanna Gordon's mother is preparing a neighborhood barbecue to watch the biggest music event in history: Live Aid. It will be a day like no other and will end having changed the lives of all who attended or watched from afar.
Hanna would rather do anything than participate in her mother's extravagant party. But Lydia Gordon insists on perfection and is determined to impress, no matter the cost. Forced into the event, Hanna, her father, and her little brother must play the perfect family.
As guests flood into number nine, so do all the things they've tried to keep hidden. Rita, a new neighbor from Australia, harbors a shocking event in her past; Steve, a young veteran, grapples with his fear and trauma; and Mr. Wilson is definitely too good-looking to ever be trusted.
And as the hours count down to the last performance of the night, Hanna and her family must confront their own secrets—secrets that threaten the flawless façade the Gordons have put on for so long.
Praise
"A gorgeous novel, I adored it. Jennie Godfrey’s writing is pure joy." — Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country
"Warm and nostalgic." — Florence Knapp, New York Times bestselling author of The Names
"Set against the backdrop of Live Aid, and covering everything from Jammy Dodgers to Queen, this is a delicious and irresistibly good-hearted story about ordinary lives and the dark secrets that lie behind the net curtains. What emerges is a plea for facing the things of which we are most afraid, even if it requires the help of a bowl of Twiglets. An utter treat." — Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Homemade God
"From the very first page I was in awe. I LOVED it. Jennie Godfrey has such an incredible gift for characterization." — Marian Keyes, bestselling author
"Gripping, suspenseful, moving, perfectly constructed—and every bit as good as, if not better than, its stonkingly successful predecessor, The List of Suspicious Things." — Sophie Hannah, New York Times bestselling author
"Brilliantly evocative and deliciously addictive. I couldn't stop reading until all the characters' secrets were revealed."
— Claire Fuller, author of Bitter Orange and Swimming Lessons
About the Author
Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire in a mill-working family and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, was inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. In 2020, Jennie gave up her corporate career to build a life around books. She is now a writer and part-time bookseller who lives, and writes, in the Somerset countryside.
