The Early Birds

THE EARLY BIRDS is a hymn to lifelong female friendship and the touching and funny follow-up to THE FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF AMERICA by the celebrated Laurie Graham. 'Why is Laurie Graham not carried on people's shoulders through cheering crowds? Her books are brilliant!' Marian Keyes

Picking up ten years after THE FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF AMERICA left off, THE EARLY BIRDS follows Peggy, Kath, Gayle, Lois and Audrey through the turn of the twenty-first century. The women are now in their seventies and time is rendering its Accounts Payable: arthritis, cataracts, forgetfulness and departures.

From the dawn of the new millennium - at which the anti-Christ unaccountably fails to appear, despite evangelist Gayle's predictions - Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern's Alzheimer's diagnosis, and the death of one of her live-in friends. Then, on a clear blue day in September 2001, the US Air Force scrambles too late to save America from four hostile attacks, and for the first time Peggy wonders if being a USAF wife - the constant worry about your husband, the faraway postings in Alaska, Norfolk, Siberia, the lack of control over your own life - was worth it.

'You're getting very negative in your old age, Peggy Dewey,' says Lois. 'Sure it was worthwhile. Leastways we're not speaking Russky. And besides, we had some fun. Didn't we have some fun?'

“One of my favourite writers”

She has wit and insight to match Nick Hornby, and the entertainment value of Helen Fielding, as well as depth . . . It amounts to a picture of the way women's lives have changed, without ever sacrificing the particular to the generalisation - Independent on The Future Homemakers of America

Superlative. The writing sparkles from first to last - Sunday Telegraph on The Future Homemakers of America

This novel crackles with energy and snappy American dialogue. Laurie Graham conjures up five tough, funny, mouthy women, thrown together at an American airbase in Norfolk . . . Graham has pulled off an absolute triumph; the voice of her sassy narrator, the redoubtable Peggy, never falters as she unfolds 40 years of friendship - Daily Mail on The Future Homemakers of America

Laugh-out-loud funny; intelligent; moving; has more delicious roll-off-the-tongue one-liners than Seinfeld. One of those books you buy six copies of to send to all your old friends - Scotsman on The Future Homemakers of America

A delightfully smart and sophisticated historical novelist - Sunday Times

Laurie Graham is a former Daily Telegraph columnist and contributing editor of She magazine. The author of several acclaimed novels, most recently The Grand Duchess of Nowhere and The Night in Question (2015), Laurie lives in Dublin. Visit her website at

THE EARLY BIRDS is a hymn to lifelong female friendship and the touching and funny follow-up to THE FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF AMERICA by the celebrated Laurie Graham. 'Why is Laurie Graham not carried on people's shoulders through cheering crowds? Her books are brilliant!' Marian Keyes Picking up ten years after THE FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF AMERICA left off, THE EARLY BIRDS follows Peggy, Kath, Gayle, Lois and Audrey through the turn of the twenty-first century. The women are now in their seventies and time is rendering its Accounts Payable: arthritis, cataracts, forgetfulness and departures.From the dawn of the new millennium - at which the anti-Christ unaccountably fails to appear, despite evangelist Gayle's predictions - Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern's Alzheimer's diagnosis, and the death of one of her live-in friends. Then, on a clear blue day in September 2001, the US Air Force scrambles too late to save America from four hostile attacks, and for the first time Peggy wonders if being a USAF wife - the constant worry about your husband, the faraway postings in Alaska, Norfolk, Siberia, the lack of control over your own life - was worth it. 'You're getting very negative in your old age, Peggy Dewey,' says Lois. 'Sure it was worthwhile. Leastways we're not speaking Russky. And besides, we had some fun. Didn't we have some fun?'

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