Jennie Godfrey for The Barbecue at No.9
Thursday 12th March, 7 p.m.
Pilrig St. Paul's / LARCH, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 5AH
6.30pm
7pm
"A beautiful story about secrets, lies and community." - Graham Norton
Following on from the incredible success of The List of Suspicious Things, we are delighted to welcome Jennie Godfrey to celebrate the release of her latest novel, The Barbecue at No. 9.
House-proud Lydia Gordon, whose idols are Princess Di and Delia Smith, is determined to put on a show that will impress everyone - with her posh garden and state-of-the-art television, and her sweet husband and two children, Hanna and David.
But as the guests flood into number nine, so do all of the secrets that have been kept in the close.
Rita, a new neighbour from Australia, is hoping for a fresh start but harbours a shocking event in her past; Steve, a young Falklands veteran, battles his own demons; and Mr Wilson is surely too good-looking to ever be trusted.
But as the hours count down to the last performance of the night, it's Lydia who faces the heart-breaking truth that her immaculate home and flawless family might not be so perfect after all.
And if each of their neighbours is guilty of hiding something, so are the Gordons at number nine...
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.