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This was a lazy weekend, thank goodness…because The Family Next Door was the kind of story that made me want to read until the very last page.

It’s rare that I give a book 5 stars, so it was like finding a treasure chest when this one went on my favorites shelf.  The story takes place in a well-to-do Melbourne neighborhood, on a street called Pleasant Court.  In many ways, it was strikingly similar to the well-known Wisteria Lane of the Desperate Housewives tv show.  I loved that series, so this book really caught my attention.

Though the regular change of perspective would normally bother me, it worked well in this book.  The characters were quite different from each other, yet their commonalities united them.  Each woman in the story contemplated motherhood, marriage, and the dynamics of social relationships in different ways.  I appreciated that author Sally Hepworth allowed the characters to explore real world situations and problems.  She didn’t shelter them from things like postpartum depression or infidelity.  Likewise, Hepworth created an interesting array of male counterparts for the women of Pleasant Court.

Each chapter uncovered another layer of the characters’ worlds.  Despite the fact that I guessed the outcome of the story, it was a satisfying ending that provided just enough closure.  I’d love to see another book in this series to find out how the characters progressed through their lives. The Family Next Door goes down as one of my 2018 favorites, and I highly recommend it!

Do you enjoy books about suburbia?