The Family Next Door, the riveting fourth novel by Sally Hepworth (The Things We Keep), starts with Essie leaving baby Mia at a park while she goes to get a coffee and heads home by herself. Three years later, after a short stint in a psychiatric hospital to treat the related mental breakdown, she and her husband are glad to have added another daughter. They're even happier that Essie's mother, Barbara, has moved in next door to help with the girls.
Fran, a lawyer and the mother of two small girls, and Ange, a successful realtor and the mother of two adolescent boys, live across from them on Pleasant Court in a small and happy corner of Melbourne, Australia. But then Isabelle moves in, single and somehow simultaneously mysterious and extremely friendly. Her arrival coincides with a seismic shift in the relationships on Pleasant Court, one that reveals shocking details about the women who live there.
Told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of the main characters, The Family Next Door is a gripping, entertaining and occasionally heartstring-tugging story. Discussing some tough themes--mental illness, infidelity, depression, gender roles--in a lighthearted way, it is hard to put down. The broiling Melbourne summer reflects the rising tension among the residents of Pleasant Court as Hepworth's story barrels toward its finale. With charming characters and shocking plot twists, this novel is not to be missed. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson