Family Friends

by Chloë Ashby

FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK FOR AUGUST
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EAST ANGLIAN BOOK AWARDS

The literary must-read of the a deeply atmospheric novel about friendship, marriage, and long-suppressed secrets. Perfect for readers of Miranda Cowley Heller's The Paper Palace, A Family Matter by Claire Lynch, and Tessa Hadley.

'Riveting ... I was gripped from the start' Claire Powell, author of All In

'The perfect poolside read' Stylist

Since they first met at university twenty years ago, Maggie and Will have spent the last two weeks of every summer in France with their close friends, Lydia and Roland. Both families have been looking forward to this cherished annual ritual. But this year things are different.

Will has been hiding something from his wife, and is struggling to keep his deceit from seeping into the cracks in their marriage.

Maggie is worried about their withdrawn teenage son.

Roland is grappling with grief over the death of his first wife.

Lydia is trying to ignore past chemistry with an old friend while learning to play second fiddle to a ghost.

And then, into this conflicted fray steps Issy, Roland’s beguiling, irrepressible daughter from his first marriage.

As the August heat beats down, and the children find new ways to entertain themselves, it starts to feel as if the fault lines in these relationships might widen; that it might be harder to hide secrets here, under the bright sun.

Praise for Family

'An intelligent, evocative, elegant novel simmering with tension and drama' Lisa Owens, author of Natural Disaster

'A propulsive story with intrigue, secrecy and drama – I had a wonderful time reading it' Jenny Mustard, author of What A Time To Be Alive

'Sultry and very evocative' Jo Hamya, author of The Hypocrite

'An involving and psychologically acute portrait of marriage, friendship and loyalty tested to the limit. A sophisticated summer page-turner for Tessa Hadley fans' The Bookseller, Editor's Choice

Genres: Fiction, Summer, Summer Reads, France, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 9, 2026

About the author

Chloë Ashby is an author and award-winning arts critic.

She is the author of three acclaimed novels: Wet Paint (2022), Second Self (2023), and Family Friends (2026).

She writes and reviews for publications including The Times, the Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, and the TLS. She regularly interviews artists and writers, and has written a Guardian column on the delights and dangers of introducing small children to art.

She is also the author of two non-fiction books on art history: Look At This If You Love Great Art (2021); and Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes (2022), a Times best book of 2022.

Reviews

[Lysandra · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

3.5/5

Nothing new plot wise; it reads like a French novel of the existentialist era but with British characters. Mid-life crisis, teen angst and childhood innocent games turning into something more.

The highlight of this novel is the prose. It’s beautifully constructed and the characters have been layered especially carefully and delicately. The descriptions are particularly vivid; it’s almost as if you can envision and sense everything in the atmosphere. Honestly, the aesthetics all in their entirety are sublime.

Maggie deserved better but otherwise it’s a particularly well-written social fresco.

[Salty Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Group of close friends spend their summer vacation in the south of France. While this has been an annual event, this year is starkly different. This summer features an array of deception, cheating, first love, death and difficult marital strife. While the novel isn't bad in itself, I'd found it rather difficult to get attach with the bulk of the characters, which were for the most part, cold and sadly despicable.

[Patrycja Krotowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

najsłabsza Ashby, w pisaniu nadal świetna, ale sama historia prosta i schematyczna. z igły widły.

podciągam jednak ocenę do 4/5, bo jest to historia wiarygodna, bohaterowie też konsekwentni i autentyczni, no i samo pisanie/storytelling 👌🏻

```

Dwie zaprzyjaźnione rodziny jak co roku spędzają razem ostatnie dwa tygodnie lata w domu na południu Francji. Maggie, Will i Lydia znają się jeszcze ze studiów, a czwartym członkiem ich przyjacielskiej czwórki jest Roland, dawny wykładowca Lydii i dziś jej mąż. Od dwudziestu lat wracają tu co roku, od kilku(nastu) lat również ze swoimi dziećmi, a tym razem dołącza do nich również osiemnastoletnia córka Rolanda z pierwszego małżeństwa.

Chloe Ashby jest jedną z moich ulubionych autorek. "Second Self" jest jedną z moich ukochanych książek. I uwielbiam Ashby przede wszystkim za to, jak pisze postaci. Podoba mi się to, że są głęboko scharakteryzowane, wiarygodne i nie sprowadzają się do jednej cechy czy roli. W "Family Friends" nadal bardzo dobrze widać to charakterologiczne podejście Ashby. Relacje między bohaterami mają swoją historię i własną dynamikę, a autorka bardzo dobrze pokazuje bliskość ludzi, którzy znają się od wielu lat.

Z tych wszystkich dawnych spraw, drobnych tarć i życiowych zawirowań Ashby układa fabułę dość prostą i momentami mocno schematyczną. Takie trochę z igły widły. Rzeczy, które pojawiają się między bohaterami, nie wydają się warte aż tak dużego zamieszania. Z drugiej strony, tak sobie myślę już jakiś czas po lekturze, może właśnie przez tę przyziemność i brak wielkich dramatów jest w tej historii coś bardzo ludzkiego i rzeczywistego. Bohaterowie mają swoje życie, małżeństwa i bliskie sobie relacje, a jednocześnie pojawiają się między nimi rzeczy, które nie zawsze łatwo nazwać czy zignorować. Nie musi się za tym od razu kryć katastrofa ani potrzeba przewartościowania całego życia - i właśnie to wydaje mi się tutaj bardzo życiowe.

Fabuła sama w sobie nie jest więc spektakularna, ale właściwie nie jest to zarzut wobec Ashby. Jej sposób pisania nie polega przecież na wielkich twistach czy dramatach, tylko na zwyczajnych relacjach, tym, co dzieje się między ludźmi i w nich samych. I chyba właśnie dlatego, mimo dość zwyczajnej fabuły, nadal świetnie się tę powieść czyta. Ashby potrafi wciągnąć w historię samymi postaciami i sposobem, w jaki o nich opowiada. Mimo że to najsłabsza Ashby w mojej ocenie, to nadal jest to Ashby, jaką uwielbiam. 4/5.

[Wendy Greenberg]

Many novels have this setting. Holiday in the south of France which happens annually with longstanding friends. During the course of the story I became less and less keen on spending my time with these people.

I felt tripped up by so many things - picking a magnolia flower - at the end of August? in a French heatwave? The same a little further on as peonies appeared. What really bemused was a headteacher taking her holiday during GCSE and A level results.

Even if I ignored this, the characters were all dislikeable in their own ways but most of them ill considerate of others' feelings.

There are so many far better novels of revelations in the sun, done more subtly and more credibly. Thinking particularly of Deborah Levy, Claire Fuller, Marina Kemp....

Just not for me

With thanks to #NetGalley and #PenguinUK for the opportunity to read and review

[suzannah ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

[Thainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. What did I just read? This book reminded me of the TV series ‘Succession’ where every main character was unlikeable to me. We follow a small gang of uni mates (now adults with families of their own) on the forced annual holiday where they all make selfish choices and are incapable of accepting accountability or guilt. The only redeeming characters were the ‘children’. As the adults around them self indulged as past secrets and lust bubble to the surface, the children are the only ones displaying emotional intelligence and maturity at 10,15 and 19. Making sure the youngsters got out unscathed was the only driving force for me to continue reading. I have read ‘uncomfortable’ book’s before but something about this one just didn’t speak to me personally. This is the 2nd Happy Place Book Club pick with this sort of energy… if it’s a deliberate intention from the author I cannot fault the writing however my 3 stars reflect my personal experience as a reader.

[Mane · Rating 4 out of 5]

messy...
voelde me wel helemaal in Zuid-Frankrijk!

[Laura Stoker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted a trashy holiday read and this was definitely that. Wouldn't necessarily recommend it though and not sure I'll still be thinking of it by the end of summer.

[Allix Caron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Help, I’m slumping.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family drama with a very modern lens on family life and friendship. I would say this felt fairly conventional to me rather than anything particularly unusual about the storyline, but it did draw me in - the novel centres around two couples, Lydia and Roland, and Maggie and Will, who have been holidaying together every summer for the past 20 years. The dynamic is complicated by various factors - Will, Maggie and Lydia met at university, but Roland was their professor before dating Lydia. Roland has an ex wife who has recently died, his daughter Issy joins the family holiday for the first time, alongside the other children of the two couples: Sammy, Bea and Alice. Unbeknownst (or maybe not) to everyone else, Will and Lydia were an item before Will and Maggie. There’s quite a lot going on, from cyber bullying and periods, criminal investigations, affairs, pregnancies or perimenopause, redundancies, depression. I found the characters compelling and believable - they were rounded beings and I think that was the best part of the book. The plot in some ways felt too much like a check list of expected modern issues. I did enjoy reading, particularly the languid sense of holiday and avoiding reality - until it all comes crashing down.

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin (Fig Tree), for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley Moen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family Friends by Chloë Ashby 5/5 🌟


SUMMARY: Imagine a Sally Rooney book about 2 couples that go on vacation together every year but it's written in 3rd person and they have kids. All the drama, all the messiness, and just a slice of their lives. 


For me, litfic doesn't have to be difficult to be great. Sometimes the perfect 5 star read is something I can tear through, not wanting to put down 


READ IF YOU LIKE: Messy relationships, summer in France vibes, wrestling with whether or not you like a character, yummy litfic you can finish in a weekend

Thank you Pegasus for the ACR! Comes out Nov 2026

[Alexander Bancroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every character has a conflict and story of their own, from coming of age to midlife. An impressive range of perspectives for the reader to let their opinions and desires for each character take root. An ideal summer read to reflect on the relationships and traditions we form amongst friends and what happens when we examine them further.

[Madeleine Stewart · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

A good holiday read. Loved the prose - really felt like I was there! Characters and their own personal dramas and dynamics were all interesting. A good ‘social fresco’ as another reviewer put it. Fucking Will though - what a useless loser.

[Lucy Skeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chloe Ashby I love you so much!!! You’ve done it again x

Thanks so much to Fig Tree for my copy, yet another book of the summer incoming

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A group of boring, predictable, and frankly despicable people vacationing in the South of France. Every dilemma unfolds exactly as you’d expect, with little in the way of surprise/insight. The prose is nice, though.

[Sam Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 - lots of drama!

[Katzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

justice for maggie✊🏻

[Jan · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Chloë Ashby does it again!

We are transported to South of France, during a heatwave, to Lydia, Roland and their daughter Bea’s holiday home, where they are joined by their couple-friends Maggie and Will, alongside their children, teenager Sammy and Alice. It’s a two-decade long tradition, spending couple of weeks around the end of summer. New addition this year is Issy, Roland’s 19-year old daughter from her first marriage, who will be staying with him going forward as her Mum, Mary, just passed away last week after prolonged illness. Very early on we realise that no one is really at their best shape for this holiday, except for maybe Alice and Bea, being lost in their adolescent world.

As we go along, we explore more of the complex dynamics. Will, Lydia, and Maggie were university besties, while Roland being their professor. The relationship of Lydia and Roland had begun with an affair, and ultimately led Roland to leave Mary and little Issy behind. With Mary’s illness and now passing, Roland is now grappling with conflicting feelings, as well as struggling with forging a bond with Issy. The couples also are financially at a much different state, with Lydia always being supported by her wealthy Dad. While that never became a problem before, now with changed circumstances of Maggie and Will’s household, this too lingers as a point of contention. Will and Lydia also have got secrets, some individual, some tangled, and all are quite capable of upending all of their lives as they know it. Maggie, the kindest and calmest, is juggling with too much at the same time, while also scared to face a potentially life changing event. As if all of these are not unsettling enough, we learn that this is the last holiday in this house, as Lydia’s father has decided to sell it, for reasons not known to all.

Ashby deals with a magnitude of issues - secrets, affairs, unfulfilling marriage, grief, parenthood, depression, financial issues, job loss, bullies, consent, coming of age. But at no point it feels cumbersome. She has taken time to flesh out each of the characters as such, that readers would be able to see from each one's POV, no matter how frustrating they get at times. The sultry atmosphere of rural France is rendered beautifully, with sun-drenched days, generous amounts of cheese and wine. One scene that has stayed with me is the group's visit to a cave. Ashby captures the physical claustrophobia of the setting while simultaneously reflecting the emotional suffocation each character is experiencing.
The ending is absolutely raw, messy and authentic; the only ending this story could have had! It's a summer book, a really sophisticated one, and definitely is going to be part of my re-read list.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

For twenty years, married couple Will and Maggie have spent the last two weeks of summer in France, with their friends Lydia and Roland. The holiday has become a tradition they all look forward to, since their meeting at university, throughout all the changes that have come with marriage and parenthood.

But this summer, things are different. Each of them is struggling with the emotional toll of secrets they are keeping, and the added presence of Roland's daughter, Issy, from his first marriage, is an ingredient that just might set this holiday on fire...

Chloe Ashby's novel is a literary triumph of beautifully portrayed drama between old friends mired in worries about the secrets they are keeping to themselves. The story flips between the present in France, where the two families meet for their traditional holiday, and moments from Lydia, Roland, Will and Maggie's pasts which build up a picture of the complex relationships between them all.

Ashby sets the scene by delving into the thoughts that occupy each of their minds - Lydia's concerns about the distance between her and Roland, the arrival of his sullen daughter, the sale of their holiday home, and the unexpected resurfacing of old passions; Roland's preoccupation with the funeral he has to organise for his late first wife, his guilt over the way their relationship ended when he met Lydia (a former student of his) and the fractured relationship with Issy; Will's whopping secret he has been keeping from Maggie, and how this has enmeshed him in complications; Maggie's worries about her and Will's withdrawn teenage son, Sam; and Issy's conflicting feelings about the turn of events that make her feel like an outsider here.

As the story winds its sinuous way through tension you can cut with a knife, the voices of the four friends and Issy totally immerse you in their troubles, anxieties, and the things they cannot say to each other. When Will is forced to confess his secret to an incredulous Maggie, the dynamic between them all shifts to set in motion as chain of events that affects everyone.

Ashby's writing is stunning, and she really knows how to use a weighty silence to effect. Rarely, have I read a book which brings the experience of characters coming together at a pivotal moment in all their lives so vividly, in a way that gives such attention to the history between them. She sets this against the simmering heat of their location with such skill - using the two to enhance atmosphere and discomfort to perfection. The revelations drop with well-judged precision, and the exploration of many facets of marriage, motherhood, friendship, love, coming of age, guilt, and divided loyalties is so well done.

This is a book that provokes a visceral response. Being immersed in the lives of characters with dilemmas it is not always easy to sympathise with sometimes makes for uncomfortable reading, but I have nothing but praise for the way Ashby pulls this off with such accomplished style. Absolutely compulsive reading.

Highly recommended if you also enjoy Kate Sawyer's excellent books.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the last two weeks of August vacation that Will and Maggie have been taking at their friends’ country house in France for the last twenty years-why is this year different?
This time, Lydia, their schoolmate at uni, has been ordered to sell the house by her father, to help him settle his unnamed difficulties. It will be the last time everyone gets to use this house. Lydia’s husband, Roland, was their English professor, who left his wife, Mary, and his two-year-old daughter, Issy, to marry Lydia, but now that Mary died, nineteen-year-old Issy is living with them. Lydia knows that Issy blames her for causing the breakup in her parents’ marriage, but she also blames herself. It makes for a very uncomfortable situation and Issy makes sure that Lydia suffers. Along with Issy, Lydia and Roland’s precocious and indulged eleven-year-old daughter Bea completes the family. When Will and Maggie arrive, their daughter Alice spots Bea in the window, and they are inseparable for the next two weeks. Awkward and troubled, their fifteen-year-old son Sammy is dreading this get-together, especially as his cell phone keeps blowing up with mean classmate comments.
Every one of them has been keeping secrets which are going to rock their friendship and perhaps also their marriages. What exactly was the history between Will and Lydia before they met Maggie? What did Will tell Lydia before he revealed it to his own wife? Were Bea and Alice invading everyone’s privacy? Were Sammy and Issy getting too close and where would this end? How will Roland finish his long awaited manuscript when Lydia isn’t well-off? And what secret did Maggie have that she kept wholly to herself? This was an absolute powder keg that was bound to explode in the next two weeks and take everything down with it.
Chloe Ashby, novelist and art critic, has written a well observed study of good friends and the turbulent undercurrent that lurks beneath their complicated relationships. Take the phone off the hook and immerse yourself in someone else’s problems for a while.

[Elizabeth Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself immersed on holiday in this atmospheric and intriguingly messy story of friendship, marriage and parenthood.

Two couples whose friendship began at university have been holidaying together in the south of France for twenty years and together they have shared every stage of their life, from marriage to parenthood. But this summer proves particularly tension filled - the adults are burdened with emotional baggage and secrets old and new and the children are being teenagers ..... In the simmering heat of high summer, things begin to bubble over and some relationships are challenged, whilst others blossom.

Thanks to some beautifully articulated prose, what the author does really well is transport you as all the details of the house and holiday rituals are meticulously observed and truly brought to life. Through flashbacks we truly get to know the - not always likeable - characters and understand the complicated group dynamics and the myriad of tensions between couples, friends and teenagers.

If you enjoy stories about complicated relationships and how they evolve over time as well as the many iterations of love over the course of life with a wonderful sense of place, then you will enjoy Family Friends.

[Amie Derricott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family Friends follows a group of friends and their two families who have spent the twenty years since they met at university spending two weeks together every summer in Lydia's French summer house. Maggie, Will and Lydia met at university living in the same dorms, and Lydia's now husband Roland was one of their professors. Over the years this tradition of holidaying together has continued, through relationships, marriages and children, but this year, something is different. Beneath this surface level perfect holiday, each of the four are keeping secrets. Will is hiding something massive from Maggie and its starting to affect their marriage. Maggie is becoming increasingly concerned with how withdrawn their teenage son is and is struggling with the challenges of parenting. Roland is grieving his first wife and has welcomed his daughter from his first marriage into their lives full time. Lydia is struggling with the complicated reality of sharing a life with someone whose previous relationship will always be a part of their current one, and is also complicit in Wills lies.
Set against the heat and beauty two weeks in the French summer, this is very much an exploration of the complicated nature of long-term relationships: the friendships that endure, the marriages that evolve, and the secrets that threaten to unravel everything.
This was a really interesting read and it fascinated me how even within an enduring friendship that has lasted as long as the one in this book, you see these sort of separate alliances between the friends, and how all of them are hiding something from all of the others. It definitely also explores the fact that even as adults, we are still capable of hurting each other despite thinking we are doing the right thing. You spend so much of the book getting increasingly frustrated with all of the adults, and the author has been really clever with this because I think you are meant to take a good look at this group of people who are deeply flawed, selfish, and more often than not make questionable decisions and then reflect upon your own self and how you’d behave in these situations.
I have to say that I found this burgeoning romance between Issy and Sam a little bit icky. She is 19 and Sam is just shy of 16, and to be quite honest I really feel like she took advantage of him as the adult in the situation. Even if the intention here was to highlight how this relationship has developed over time and, I don’t know, surpasses conventions or something, it was actually just really uncomfortable and I don’t feel like something that basically amounts to statutory rape is ever necessary as a plot device.
That being said, this is a book that spans a huge range of difficult topics, including grief, death, losing your job, infidelity, bullying, mental health – its quite a long list really and this doesn’t even cover half of it – but Ashby has done really well to have this myriad of issues going on but one never overshadows another and I really think that on the whole they were dealt with in a really relevant and tactful way.
I did really enjoy this and never having read this author before I am definitely going to be looking at anything else shes written. Her writing kept me engaged and I actually didn’t want to put this book down despite it being character driven and therefore not my usual cup of tea!

[Heather Lang · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

I received an advance galley of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

For years, Will and Maggie have spent two weeks in the South of France with their closest friends Roland and Lydia. This year things will be different. From battling grief to secrets to raising their difficult families, cracks in their relationships begin to show.

When you put a group of adults, all hiding their own secrets, into a room with their children, it's hard to tell who the actual grown-ups are. This story shows how friendships, past relationships, and, of course, deception can ultimately fester over time despite covering it up with families, careers, and a shiny pretense of friendships. If you love frustrating, hypocritical, and messy characters, then you will love this book. Even when some of them seem a little more redeemable, they will still disappoint you. But the messiest is delicious, and throw in some not-so-innocent children, and you have a captivating read.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Family Friends, Maggie and Will, along with their two children, spend their last two weeks of summer with Lydia and Roland’s family in France. This has been the tradition for twenty years since the four met at university but is set to be challenged with the revelation that Lydia’s father is planning to sell the summer house. Alongside this looming change, secrets and tension brew under the hot summer sun which threaten to throw friendship and tradition to the wind and might unravel the perfect summer send off.

I found Family Friends such an addictive and inviting book. The story is told in such a way that mirrors a summer holiday- languid and relaxed but warm and comforting at the same time. We are lulled into the summer routine of the two families - relishing in french pastries and chlorine scented pools. At the same time, the secrets pull at the edges like the children picking the flakes off their fresh croissants.

The history of Maggie, Will, Lydia and Roland is revealed in between glasses of wine and cold showers that clean off the sweat of the day. The way that the flashbacks feed into the narrative keeps the story flowing at a good pace and also not only sets up the character’s relationships but also constructs their personalities. We get to understand how the group functions as we follow them around the house and their quirks and actions make sense with the backdrop of their university days.

Ashby really captured the essence of a holiday with the pacing and the time taken to describe the setting and foods to create a strong setting. The summer house is where the whole two weeks is set so making a strong image of this location is crucial and Ashby does this through her descriptions so that we know exactly what it looks like when this all starts to be pulled apart.

Once the drama unfolds, there are two layers to the tension. The first is the openly known facts- the house being sold, the death of Roland’s wife and his daughter’s mum- positioning Lydia as an outsider especially as her and Roland’s daughter are not close. Maggie is worried that her son is withdrawn. As soon as we get comfortable and the suitcases are unpacked, the cracks start to show and we readers realise there are more cracks than what appear on the surface. The tension and suspicions rise with each dinner until all is ultimately revealed.

I loved the ending. It was tense, unsure and proposes more questions than answers. It is unsatisfying by choice and this makes it such a frustratingly good ending- not unlike the bittersweet ending of a highly anticipated holiday. The story begins at the start of the two weeks and ends with the characters returning back to their regular lives- but the conflicts still linger and we are left to wonder what will happen when they get home?

This was juicy, warm and cosy but also with tension alongside the summery scenery. A perfect story to read on a holiday like the setting, or poolside on a warm day.

[Books Before Bs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you looking for a sophisticated, summery read that you can sink into while lounging by the pool? Well, look no further. ‘Family Friends’ by Chloë Ashby is a perfect pick.

The writing hits that sweet spot between literary and accessible, having a high-quality, refined feel without any hint of the abstruse or experimental. This makes it ideal if you’re wanting something that is easy to read but not too commercial (read: trashy).

The atmosphere makes it a solid summer pick, too. The rural French setting is very evocative—you can practically feel the sizzling warmth of the heatwave emanating from the page. And don’t get me started on all the mouth-watering food! The butter! The bread! The pastries!

The characters, though not likeable, feel complex and undeniably human, and I found myself emotionally invested in them throughout. I kept wanting them to be better or bolder, and when they let me down, it didn’t feel like a disappointment but like an authentic rendering of what people are really like.

Speaking of characters, this is a book that very much focuses on character, with just enough plot for the cast to play off and show their true colours. So, it’s definitely one for readers who are interested in complex dynamics and the decisions people make, while readers hoping for lots of action and big twists will be left underwhelmed.

Overall, an engaging read that is easy to tear through in a day or two, but will keep you thinking about it much longer.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Chloë Ashby, and Fig Tree for the ARC.

⚠️ Cancer, death of parent, infidelity, adult/minor relationship, references to bullying

[Imie (mythicreader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

* gifted copy from publisher in exchange for honest review

Set on a summer holiday in France at a friend's holiday house, it's been tradition to spend a few weeks together, but this year the air is heavy with secrets, with grief, with old feelings. A summer storm of drama is brewing and it slowly builds in an addictive summer haze.

Ashby paints the scene so beautifully and realistically that you can imagine you're sat on a sun lounger watching this all unfold. Perhaps it's her attention to detail, or her artistic eye for describing, but all her work transports you to the scene. She captures the differing emotions and the building heavy tension that builds between the friends, the couples, and the older kids.
The ending leaves you wanting to find out what happens next, but feels realistic in its open questions left.

This book is the perfect accompaniment to any summer holiday, or just the heavy summer weather we're experiencing in the UK. It's enjoyed slowly, like a tasty cocktail (or three which you drink quicker and quicker the further in the book you get.

Another stunning book from Chloë! She knows I'm a massive fan of hers by now, and that I will read literally anything (scribbles, lists, ideas - I will take it all). This compliments well All In by Claire Powell, the summery scenes of Normal People (I'm thinking when they go on holiday with friends), and Jo Hamya's The Hypocrite. A gorgeous slow burn of tension and secrets that will leave you hooked.

[Angela Mellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family Friends is a slow burner that took me a while to get into but once I did I couldn’t put it down.
Lydia, Maggie and Will are best friends from uni. Maggie and Will are married with two children and Lydia is married to Roland an older man that did used to be their lecturer, they have a child together and Roland has brought his daughter from his first marriage as her mother has just died. Every year they holiday together in France in Lydia’s family home. Everything sounds idyllic even the bakery runs in the morning but this year the atmosphere is tense. Each person is experiencing their own conundrum and with the wine and the heat old tendencies seem to appear and secrets are around them but will there be a revelation?
This was a slow starter for me but I loved it by the end, the characters are all very different and have their own reasons for their secrets and the way they are behaving. The setting is idyllic and is captured well as are the character dynamics. It shows that one persons dynamic can affect the whole group and that they may be the same age they all have their own ideas.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin General UK, Fig Tree for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is why you shouldn’t go on holiday with another couple when there’s a past history between you and one of them!
You think your marriage is built on solid foundations then one of you keeps a secret that rocks things once it’s revealed and you wonder if you can ever trust them again. Then a photo reveals more deception. Even for the sake of the children, can your relationship survive? Annoyingly, in this case, we will never know, as the story ends there.
The only adult I liked was Maggie, finding the others very self-centred. Unfortunately, she was the one who was hurt the most by things.
An enjoyable read.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review,
Will had been made redundant three months before, never telling Maggie, borrowing money from Lydia, his ex from university. Roland, Lydia’s husband, is grieving the death of his ex-wife. His daughter Issy, 19, starts sleeping with Maggie’s 15 year old son. The younger girls take photos of them, and Lydia and Will kissing, and tell.

[Lexa Starling · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And for the first time, it occurs to him that ordinary might just be doable. And how completely magical would that be?"

- Family Friends, by Chloe Ashby
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️|| 🫑

Following a group of university friends who reunite in France each year, this story leans into messy, complicated, very real lives. The characters are around my age (or a little older), and while I didn’t always see myself in them, I couldn’t look away from their secrets, relationships, and family tensions.
What really stood out to me was the writing. Ashby has this way of capturing tiny sensory details so vividly, you feel like you’re there; the heat, the atmosphere, even the crackle of a water bottle label. It’s subtle, but it completely pulls you into the moment.
This is very much grounded in reality. Think complicated friendships, parenting struggles, growing up and realising life isn’t as simple as you thought. It’s not my usual genre, but I genuinely enjoyed it.
If you love contemporary fiction that explores real, adult lives in all their messiness, this one is worth picking up.

[Fatguyreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit, this certainly isn't my typical type of read, but I believe it's important for authors to have the perspective of readers who are not necessarily their target audience so I try to read outside of my comfort zone as often as possible, and in this instance I'm really glad I did as I did enjoy this. I found it to be a refreshing change from my usual Sci-fi / Fantasy.

So here we follow the story of two families, who meet up once a year for last two weeks of summer. But this year, things are a little different. There's unease between the families, secrets to be exposed and loyalties tested, all set beneath the French summer heat.

Want to know more? Be sure to pick your copy up to find.

So all in all, an enjoyable read. It's absolutely perfect for summer and is stylish, heady and atmospheric.

If you're off on your summer holidays, make sure you take this with you. Just ideal for beside the pool or at the beach.

4 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.