Ordinary People by Diana Evans was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Rathbones Folio Prize in 2019. It tells the story of two middle-class black and mixed race couples in their late 30s living in South London with most of the novel set between late 2008 when Barack Obama wins the US presidential election to summer 2009 when Michael Jackson dies. Michael and Melissa live in Crystal Palace with their young daughter and new baby son and Stephanie and Damien live further out in Dorking with their three children. The main characters all undergo various degrees of existential crisis as they approach early middle age and Evans is particularly good at detailing everyday domestic disputes and how they unconsciously factor into wider resentments in relationships all too easily. This isn’t exactly unique material for literary fiction, but Evans has created convincing characters and an interesting gothic twist towards the end of her compelling third novel.