Ordinary Time

By: Cathy Rentzenbrink

Narrated by: Olivia Poulet

'Here is the absolute truth about love, told with wisdom, heart and humour. So clever, funny and life-affirming'
Meg Mason

'Funny and heartbreaking, immersive and thoroughly satisfying'
Nina Stibbe

There are already three of us in this marriage. I'm not sure there is room for a fourth . . .

Ann is a reluctant Vicar's wife. She tries her best but her husband only has eyes for God, her son is asking questions she struggles to answer, and it is all too easy to displease the congregation. It may only be a matter of time before she makes the headlines of the local gazette: Vicar's wife gets giggles in church. Vicar's wife refuses to bake scones. Vicar's wife does not care about other people.

When her brother needs her help, Ann travels from Cornwall up to London. There she meets Jamie, and a new world unexpectedly opens up. Ann knows what the older women of the parish would say - she's made her bed and now she has to lie in it. But once she has been led into temptation, it may prove impossible to resist . . .

The funny and heartbreaking new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink, Ordinary Time is an unforgettable story of the joys and sorrows of everyday life; one that asks big questions about friendship and marriage, forgiveness and redemption, and the real meaning of love.

'Once I started reading I couldn't stop. Cathy Rentzenbrink is so astute and observant about the small dramas, disappointments and compromises of marriage, and the deadening effects of duty . . . incredibly moving'
Clare Chambers

'A very special book . . . She makes the everyday profound like Anne Tyler does. Melancholy interiority meets great capacity for joy. A beautiful, beautiful book about love in all its forms'
Marian Keyes

©2024 Cathy Rentzenbrink (P)2024 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Critic reviews

A brilliant portrait of a community and an insightful exploration of marriage and family life. Funny and heartbreaking, immersive and thoroughly satisfying (Nina Stibbe)

Here is the absolute truth about love, told with wisdom, heart and humour. So clever, funny and life-affirming (Meg Mason)

I loved Ordinary Time and couldn't put it down. Cathy Rentzenbrink is Britain's answer to Anne Tyler . . . a very clever, funny, well-observed, absorbing and beautiful novel. Wonderful (Philippa Perry)

A beautiful and generous novel about love in all its forms, about daring to reach for the stars and how to sail through the storms that knock us off course (Kit de Waal)

Witty, tender, heartrending. Ordinary Time is about the huge feelings that howl beneath the surface of the everyday. No one has written this astutely about the inner lives of middle-aged women since Barbara Pym (Clare Pollard)

A wise and funny novel full of heart and truth by a truly brilliant writer (Julia Samuel)