A sinking real estate market can quickly turn into a rough patch for any family — and that’s exactly what happens to the Chambers’ when they find themselves in arrears in Madeline Wickham’s A Desirable Residence. Though a too-good-to-be-true realtor comes to the rescue, Liz and Jonathan Chambers realize that, with two loans and a business to run, digging themselves out might not be as easy as they thought. Narrator Katherine Kellgren, best known for her work on the Bloody Jack series, perfects a lineup of suburban-London accents to give each of the Chambers’, the real estate agent and his family, a pair of tenants, and a parade of other characters their own unique emphasis, pacing, and tone. From Liz’s streak of entitlement to her daughter’s perpetual “My parents are so embarrassing” attitude, and from the smooth-talking real estate agent to the overwhelmed Jonathan, she keeps the characters interesting and engaging.

Liz and Jonathan think they’re seeing their dreams come true when they’re finally able to buy a tutorial college, but the mortgage on the building — along with the mortgage they’re still paying on their former home — is more than they can afford. On the advice of their real estate agent, Marcus, they move into a tiny flat with their 14-year-old daughter, Alice, and rent out their house to an unemployed actor and his wife. But while Alice makes friends with the tenants (and then develops a raging, teenage crush on the actor), Liz and Marcus start an affair of their own — and soon all three families are caught in an awkward jumble. Wickham is no stranger to writing about the perils of stretching your budget too thin — she also wrote the Shopaholic series as Sophie Kinsella — and she brings the same wit and likeability to these characters; even though they aren’t always nice to each other, you still want them to work it out in the end. —Blythe Copeland