11 Jul 2026
issue 11 July 2026
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‘Across the courtyard the water glistens a pale blue, the sun’s rays shimmering on its surface. The surrounding garden is wild and overgrown with trees and bushes tinged reddish orange, overlooking a valley of scorched grass fields.’ This is the setting of Chloë Ashby’s Family Friends. Taking place over one eventful holiday between old university friends in the south of France, it’s a sun-soaked work simmering with secrets that lurk just below the surface.
First, a look at our cast of characters. There’s the ‘endlessly reliable’ Maggie, with weak, ‘beautiful in a boyish way’ Will and their two children, Alice and ‘gangly’ teenage Sammy. They’re spending a week with the wealthy art dealer Lydia, charismatic and chic, whose family home they’re staying in, and her leonine husband Roland, who started out as her professor. An added complication is Roland’s 18-year-old daughter Issy from his first marriage, unnerving in her beauty and grieving the loss of her mother.
