Devotees of Bridget Jones’s Diary will not want to miss Hens Dancing, an irresistible novel in which wry, thirty-something Venetia Summers, a divorced mother of three, chronicles her chaotic life through the course of a year.

It isn’t easy to keep things running smoothly in a ramshackle farmhouse in the English countryside. There are the children who need comforting, new clothes, and rides to school. To say nothing of the tribulations caused by an ex-husband who operates a pet mortuary, and a mother who hides Bloody Mary miniatures and cigarettes in the grass at Easter. But there are those moments that make it all worthwhile: an unexpected crow of joy from the youngest, a little flirtation with the plumber. With intelligence and wit, Barker gives us an intimate look into the lives of very real, deeply funny characters.