Births, Deaths and Marriages

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Zoe, Al, Rachel, Rob, Yas and Indie. Six friends who were inseparable at university, who have all had their secret or not so secret passions for each other, their own hopes and fears.

Over the years, they have gone their separate ways. Rob is a history teacher, with a string of broken relationships behind him. Yas is a surgeon and very much her own woman. Indie is married and a successful coffee entrepreneur. Rachel is a stay at home mum with two children. Al, widowed young, is about to take over his father's funeral business.

When Rob's engagement party throws the gang together once more, some passions are reignited, old connections and resentments resurface. Over the next twelve months, there will, among the friends, be a birth, a marriage, and a death – but whose?

Set over one year and told from multiple perspectives, BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES is an era-spanning, globe-trotting novel about love, friendship, and how to stay at least relatively sane in an ever crazier world. It’s about a group of friends growing older, a pair of sometime lovers finding their way back to each other, about kindness and joy. It’s about births, deaths, marriages, and everything in between.

© Laura Barnett 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

A luminous life-affirming read.
Woman's Own
Through tragedy, triumphs, the settling of old scores and the blossoming of love, the nuances of their friendship are beautifully portrayed. A perfect, can't-put-down summer read!
Red
A must-read.
Closer
A lovely, absorbing read
Daily Mirror
Full of life's ups and downs . . . There'll be a lot of head nodding as you read this; it will bring you back to house sharing with friends and memories of being a student and feeling invincible.
Belfast Telegraph
Immersive ... It's so good at capturing the feeling many of us have that life hasn't quite worked out as planned - so relatable.
Good Housekeeping
A beautifully written story about second chances. We couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
Heat
A beautiful read.
Bella Magazine
Laura Barnett skilfully handles a large cast of characters, who we come to adore and champion, as she weaves a compelling tale about love and friendship in all its guises. Her exquisite line by line writing and astute character observations held me rapt. A novel to be devoured.
Lucy Clarke, author of The Castaways and One of the Girls
I loved Births, Deaths and Marriages. Laura’s ability to jump between so many different lives and to keep those strands alive in the reader’s mind reminded me of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.
Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls

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