Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope

In Trollope's new novel, the reader meets six women of different ages and dispositions. There's Eleanor, who invites mothers, Paula and Lindsay, with their young sons for a Friday evening of company. Paula, abandoned by her married lover after becoming pregnant, lives with her son, Toby. Lindsay is also alone with her baby, Noah, after her husband died in an accident. Before long, Lindsay asks Eleanor if her wild younger sister, Jules, can join them. Soon, Blaise (a single working woman) and her business partner, Karen, join the group. After a quick introduction, the novel shows them five years after their first get-togethers. They are still the same women, but when Paula introduces them to her new boyfriend, Jackson, the dynamics of everyone's relationships begin to change. At first, it seems it might be for the worst, but in the end the women learn to grow for the better.