Your standard Joanna Trollope book really. Which I know sounds like a put down. I always pick these up to read looking for something easy going, easy reading, nothing serious. And always end up thinking better of them in the end. This one’s the story of four college friends and where they’ve all ended up by the point they are dealing with mature careers, almost grown children and ageing parents.

There’s a part of me (a miserable reverse-snob kind of part I’ll admit) who’d like to write Trollope off as only able to do posh people, but so many times the characters aren’t really posh and they come over as pretty reasonably realistic. I know these women, I went to college with them I’m sure, and I know their dilemmas. I enjoy their company while I read the pages. And there is always good stuff to go with the bad. And I put the book away with just a little bit more emotional knowledge about how to cope with the world, and that’s a worthwhile thing.