The Barbecue at No. 9 by Jennie Godfrey review: Quietly remarkable
Jennie Godfrey’s second novel, The Barbecue at No. 9, is a slow-burn drama filled with intriguing characters and quiet secrets.
The Barbecue at No. 9 by Jennie Godfrey: The key details
- Publish date: 12 February 2026
- Genre: Drama
- Publisher: Hutchinson Heineman
- Available formats: Hardback, ebook, audio
- Series/standalone: Standalone
- Length: 400 pages
Blurb: It’s the summer of 1985 and the residents of Delmont Close are preparing a neighbourhood barbecue to watch the biggest music event in history: Live Aid. A day like no other that will end having reached millions and changing the lives of all who attend.
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…
The Barbecue at No. 9 by Jennie Godfrey: The review
It’s the summer of 1985, and the Live Aid concert is the biggest TV event of the year. To mark the occasion, Hanna’s parents – well, her mum, Lydia – have decided to throw a barbecue party and invite the neighbours from the rest of the street. After all, Lydia wants everyone to know how well-to-do she is. Nothing matters more than appearances, so Lydia wants to make a good impression.
But Hanna’s got a secret that might ruin her parents’ lives. And she’s not the only one. It turns out that many of the residents of Delmont Close are battling their own demons, including Rita, who has recently fled from her previous life in Australia, and Steve, whose time in the Falklands War has taken a massive toll on him.
Unlike The List of Suspicious Things, there’s no mistaking the genre here: The Barbecue at No. 9 is a drama, where characters, their lives, and their feelings are the key focus. And since Jennie excels at writing characters so brilliantly and realistically, that’s no bad thing. There are no twists and turns here; just a small dose of slow-burning suspense as the scope of everyone’s secret is slowly doled out over the course of the novel.
The events of The Barbecue at No. 9 unfold over one day, with the book split into sections hour by hour. Chapters jump between the perspectives of several of the characters, allowing us to get to know them all deeply. We’ll get to see the world through Hanna, Rita and Steve’s eyes predominantly, though there’s also the odd chapter from the perspective of Hanna’s dad. There are lots of names of neighbours bandied about, and it can occasionally be tricky to keep up with who’s-who, but it never becomes an issue.
Steeped with nostalgia, with complex characters that you simply must know more about, The Barbecue at No. 9 is another triumph for Jennie Godfrey. It’s remarkable in a quiet, thoughtful way, capturing the mundanity of everyday lives, reflecting the fact that none of us are perfect and we’re all just out here doing our best.
Dealing with complex emotions and difficult situations in a grounded, realistic way, this is a wonderful novel that left me satisfied as it concluded — even if I am already eagerly awaiting whatever Jennie is working on next.
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