"Everyone Is Still Alive" by Cathy Rentzenbrink

An audio book set in London.

Liam Quinn (working on his 2nd novel), Juliet (45) and Charlie (5) are moving from a flat into the house of Juliet's recently dead mother, on Magnolia Road. Her father's into his 3rd marriage and is rarely seen. Charlie's nervous about his new school. It's Liam's task to befriend the other parents. Charlie's teacher is the cute woman who lives on the same street. Juliet suggests their new situation as the material for his next novel.

Dan and Helen have kids They've not had sex since the last birth. She doesn't like being touched in bed. She knows that Dan relieves himself alone. She's reading Liam's first novel - it's her bookclub's next book. He's a working-class writer from the North.

Sarah is the influencer among the mothers.

Lucy and Baz have twins. When they're 6, Baz leaves. There's a long section from his PoV explaining why his lover (sensible, efficient) is more suitable for him than Lucy is. He returns for the school play.

Liam realises that he "can write things up just as they are".

Lucy (who's already on Tinder) and the twins spend Xmas day at Juliet's house. Liam help the twins with their tech presents, the way Baz would have. Luca suspects something's going on between Liam and Lucy. In the neighbour's garden, Charlie falls off the shed roof and is rushed to hospital - cracked skull, but no brain damage. Luca ponders about this at length, uninterestingly.

With Charlie still in hospital, Liam and Juliet go to bed and have a discussion. Lucy's suspicions have been groundless. She learns that other couples have been to therapy. Baz returns. Lucy's been sleeping around and is glad to have him back. The women realise that that their husbands aren't so bad after all.

Nothing new here. The parents evaluate kids' parties, think about who does the household and parental duties. There are problems about starting to have sex again after childbirth. Children help some parents bond but for others cause the parents to split. Who should control social events (parties etc) - the wife, or peer pressure?

"unclipping into two halves" is inelegant

Other reviews

• Alex Preston
• Lucy Danser (Though we read about how wonderful Juliet and Liam’s relationship was in their early days, and though we see that they (like most other couples in the book) lose each other a bit during the process of raising children, I didn’t really buy into the way that they find their way back to each other in the end. ... I struggled to forgive Liam for some of his behaviour and felt disgruntled that Juliet didn’t bring this up as they tried to set things straight.
• goodreads