I have blogged before about my love for the Like Minded Friends podcast that Tom Allen presents with his friend Suzi Ruffell, so when I heard Tom was writing his first fiction book, I hot footed over to Net Galley to try and purloin an advanced review copy – and was delighted to be granted my wish! It was actually published last month, but I’ve been a slacker getting my review done, but at least that means you can buy it immediately if it tickles your fancy.

Here is the blurb:

“It may be quiet in the suburbs, but it’s far from peaceful . . .
Oak Drive can be found nestled tidily in an unassuming English town. Its uniform front gardens overlook a midsized common which the street’s residents survey with quiet, some might say smug, pride.
This is the sort of place where it pays to sweat the small stuff, and let the big things look after themselves. Bins should be placed back in their right positions in a timely fashion and paintwork should share the same tasteful but muted palette.
Sometimes, however, the big things do not look after themselves – and all hell can break loose in sleepy suburbia.
Common Decency chronicles the lives and interactions of the street’s residents as they band together to save a beloved oak tree from destruction at the hands of ruthless developers.
As tensions rise and repressed neuroses and resentments seep out, the secrets of Oak Drive threaten to shatter the well-ordered veneer, revealing some rather more surprising truths. . .”

The book is set on a road in suburbia with 4 houses that overlook a park with a large oak tree in it – hence the name of the road! The four houses have four very different sets of inhabitants – and the storyline explores their lives – and how they intertwine.

A new couple have moved in to the road, Vince and Nathan Luke (I have to say I struggled with Nathan Luke having two names for a bit, but I fully appreciate that is a me problem!) They have moved from London to the ‘burbs and completely done up their house – which the existing neighbours are all intrigued by. Next door is an elderly lady, Miranda – who hides a very interesting past, and loves a gin! Then there is Doctor Alice, and her husband Barry, who is trying to decide what to do with his life – and their two teenage children. I thought the family dynamic was written really well. Finally, there is the self appointed leader of the road, Donald, who is a very bossy older man (and reminded me of certain people in our own village) and his longsuffering wife Fanny who runs a local shop.

Whilst the book looks at all of the back stories, it culminates in a concerted effort by the neighbours and the wider community to protest against the development of the area in front of their houses with the council planning to fell the oak tree to put in a vehicle charging station.

I have to say you can really ‘hear’ Tom’s voice at times – but that’s wonderful, because I love Tom – and I actually quite like that in a novel (I feel the same about Richard Osman’s books TBH #clang) I do feel that Tom can get away with some turns of phrase that I wouldn’t feel I could say – for example calling two of the residents ‘the gays’ – but written in Tom’s ‘voice’ it doesn’t seem as ‘wrong’ as if someone else wrote it – if that makes sense!?

It’s a gentle book, with no wanton sex or violence, but is a lovely read. I thoroughly enjoyed it – and would recommend it for reading in your garden / on your sunlounger this year! A big thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for my review copy.