The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

I enjoyed this much more than Wood's previous novel. It tells the story of three female friends in their seventies. They are clearing out the home of their fourth friend, Sylvie, who has recently died. Jude is a proud and fastidious restaurateur who has lived the life of a kept women. Adele is a widowed actor with money problems and Wendy is a widowed academic and writer. Wendy brings along her dog Finn who is so old and frail he should probably haver been put down some time ago.

The loss of Sylvie has changed the dynamic of the foursome and they're wondering if their friendship will survive it. The tension slowly builds as the women begin to get on each others nerves. It reaches its climax on Christmas Eve, which just happened to be the day I finished the book. There is very little backfill, the book focuses on the present. The dog acts as a symbol for ageing. He's frightened, frail, messy and constantly needs accomodating for, but Wendy still loves and needs him.