Compassionate, honest and unsparing, this extraordinary novel captures the many shades of friendship and love through the story of three women who are lifetime friends.

Sandra, Collen and Jude share sexual secrets, decorating tips, counsel on marriage, even a hairdresser. Despite their differences and occasional snarls, the friendship only grows stronger over time, and their partners, Jack, Richard and Gus, go along with it, letting it shape their lives. Now, with Sandra's crisis, everyone must find a way to endure the present and imagine the future. Sweeping through and beyond the second half of the twentieth century -- from men on the moon to 9/11 -- this intimate story of friendship creates an indelible portrait of three women balanced on the knife edge of middle age.

Suddenly is classic Burnard: subtle, witty, revelatory, brave. This is a seminal novel with the power to change the way women -- and men -- understand one another.