pbA #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER/b brbOne of iThe Times/i books of the year: 'Ripples with wit, insight and vitality' br/bbr'iThe Weekend/i is so great I am struggling to find the words to do it justice... Wood is an agonisingly gifted writer: I am now going to read all her other books!'brbMarian Keyes/bbrbr'It was refreshing to encounter a novel that so profoundly sympathises with women on the forbidding cusp of being classified as "elderly". Wood ably conveys that older women didn't used to be old, and that the experience of ageing is universally bewildering'brbLionel Shriver (iObserver/i, Books of the year)/b brbr 'Radical... I really recommend it' brbPandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton on iThe High Low /ipodcast/bbrbr'Riveting' brbElizabeth Day/b brbr'A perfect, funny, insightful, novel about women, friendship, and ageing. I loved it'brbNina Stibbe/b brbr'What a terrific novel... Witty warm and wise'brbSimon Mayo/bbrbr'Charlotte Wood zooms in and makes these women increasingly sympathetic and individual in a way that really pulls on the heartstrings of the reader'brbMariella Frostrup/b brbr'Authentic, funny, brutally well-observed... As with the novels of Elizabeth Strout or Anne Tyler, these are characters not written to please, but to feel true'brbiThe Sunday Times/i/b brbr'Glorious... Charlotte Wood joins the ranks of writers such as Nora Ephron, Penelope Lively and Elizabeth Strout' bribGuardian/b/ibrbr'iThe Weekend/i triumphantly brings to life the honest, inner lives of women' bribIndependent/b/ibrbr'A lovely, lively, intelligent, funny book' brbTessa Hadley/b brbr'One sharp, funny, heartbreaking and gorgeously-written package. I loved it' brbPaula Hawkins/bbrbr'One of those deceptively compact novels that continues to open doors in your mind long after the last page' brbPatrick Gale/bbrbr'I'm not looking forward to much this locked-down summer but iThe Weekend/i is definitely an exception. The premise sems the perfect vehicle for Wood's unsparing observation, great gift for storytelling and total lack of sentimentality'brbEimear McBride/b brbrSylvie, Jude, Wendy and Adele have a lifelong friendship of the best kind: loving, practical, frank and steadfast. But when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three.brbrThese women couldn't be more different: Jude, a once-famous restaurateur with a spotless life and a long-standing affair with a married man; Wendy, an acclaimed feminist intellectual; Adele, a former star of the stage, now practically homeless. brbrStruggling to recall exactly why they've remained close all these years, the grieving women gather for one last weekend at Sylvie's old beach house. But fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface - a storm that will eith