The Barbecue at No.9 by Jennie Godfrey

The Barbecue at No.9 is the second novel by Jennie Godfrey, published in February 2026. Jennie Godfrey wrote the brilliant The List of Suspicious Things – my favourite read of 2025. I went to see her at Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2025 and she introduced The Barbecue at No.9 to the audience – telling us it all centres on a big event in 1985 and asking if we could guess what that event was.

I was the person who answered the question and guessed right – Live Aid.

I was desperate to read it, but conflicted about it being in hardback and therefore expensive. But then I realised it was a cheaper hardback than usual – £16.99 rather than £25 – and had £3 off at Waterstones. So far in 2025, I’ve read four books I bought for £1 from a charity book sale and one I found for free in our village bus stop library. So I could justify £13.99 on a book I really wanted to read and know would take me just three days to read!

As I expected, The Barbecue at No.9 is beautiful and brilliant.

Nearly all the action takes place on Live Aid day on the new-build Delmont Close. Lydia Gordon lives in one of the bigger houses on the close and likes to think she is a bit better than everyone. She certainly doesn’t want her neighbours thinking she can’t put on a good party. So she invites the whole close to a barbecue for Live Aid. Even the single mum with three kids with three different fathers. And the woman with the weird son. And the new woman who lives on her own.

But Lydia is about to realise that her perfect family isn’t quite as perfect as she thought it was…

The story is largely told from the point of view of three characters – Hanna, Lydia’s 16 year old daughter, who is hiding a big secret; Rita, the new single lady on the close; and Steve, the quiet young man who is the target of the local teenagers and permanently afraid. Along the way, we meet the various neighbours and friends from the close.

The Barbecue at No.9 is divided up hour by hour as Live Aid progresses – from Status Quo opening the show, through Queen and Elton John to Paul McCartney and various reports of starving children., not to mention Bob Geldof’s legendary swearing live on the BBC. The drink flows and the guests’ confidence grows as their secrets come tumbling out.

Will Lydia be able to hold on to the image of her perfect family when the last sausage has been eaten?

I loved everything about The Barbecue at No.9 – the writing, the way the individual stories gradually emerge, the characters and the little 1980s details – from the music and fashion to the prejudices people held in the 80s. It is a beautiful read and I would recommend it to absolutely everyone.

(And if you haven’t read The List of Suspicious Things, do yourself a favour and read that!)