'So great I am struggling to find the words to do it justice' Marian Keyes A Book of the Year for The Times, Observer, Independent and Good Housekeeping 'A rare pleasure' Sunday Times 'Riveting' Elizabeth Day 'A perfect, funny, insightful, novel about women, friendship, and ageing' Nina Stibbe 'A lovely, lively, intelligent, funny book' Tessa Hadley 'Glorious . . . Charlotte Wood joins the ranks of writers such as Nora Ephron, Penelope Lively and Elizabeth Strout' Guardian Sylvie, Jude, Wendy and Adele have been friends for decades, but when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three. These women couldn't be more different: Jude, a once-famous restaurateur with a long-standing affair with a married man; Wendy, an acclaimed feminist intellectual; Adele, a former star of the stage, now practically homeless. Struggling to recall exactly why they've remained close all these years, the grieving women gather for one last weekend at Sylvie's old beach house. But fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that threatens to sweep away their friendship for good. Praise for Charlotte Wood's Stone Yard Devotional Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024 'A beautiful, mature work that does not flinch from life' SUNDAY TIMES 'A transfixing novel' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A book about what it means to be good: simply and with great humility, it asks the big questions, leaving the reader feeling kinder, more brave, enlarged' ANNE ENRIGHT 'I have rarely been so absorbed by a novel . . . A powerful, generous book' GUARDIAN