As the daughter of well known media personality Anne Deveson, Georgia Blain once longed to be part of the ‘mythical normal family’. Looping back and forth to the present day, she revisits her past with the benefit of age and experience and a determination to ‘unpick the complexities, pains and joys of life’. Her stories span her bohemian childhood at the height of the social change movement, the collapse of her parent’s marriage, her brother’s illness and her path to becoming a writer and mother.

Much more than an anthology of memories, Blain’s ‘true tales’ hum with an intensity that transcends the everyday moments they depict: we join her on failed family holidays, side with her in schoolyard allegiances, accompany her to relationship counselling and grit our teeth through scenes of painful social stumbling at a school reunion.

Blain deftly examines her own life’s triumphs, disappointments and regrets to tease out all that makes us both fallible and loveable. An astute and intelligent observer, her insights make compelling reading. Births Deaths Marriages is a superbly crafted, richly layered, collection of beautifully written stories, one that readers are bound to return to again and again.