Elizabeth Day Books in Order

With Charles Redfern unconscious in hospital, his wife and daughter must confront the influence he has held over their lives. Family secrets, unhappy relationships and difficult choices surface as both women consider a future no longer organized around his dominance.

A passerby stops beside a motorbike crash to call for help and comfort an injured man. As the encounter unfolds, appearances become less certain, revealing how half-truths and private expectations can shape the damage people inflict on one another.

The death of their son on an army posting devastates Caroline and Andrew’s marriage. When Andrew’s elderly mother moves into their home, dependency and long-standing tensions expose a family history shaped by class, war and unresolved loss.

Jack struggles to conceive while her husband longs for a child and the world around her seems consumed by babies. After another unsuccessful fertility treatment, she makes a decision whose consequences reach beyond her own grief into other people’s lives.

A refugee, a wealthy businessman, a widow and a young journalist navigate very different versions of London. When an act of wrongdoing connects their worlds, their lives expose the divisions between those with power and those struggling to survive.

Martin and his wife attend the lavish fortieth birthday party of his wealthy childhood friend Ben. By morning, police are asking questions, and the history behind an apparently unbreakable friendship begins to reveal obsession, dependence and betrayal.

Drawing on personal experience and conversations from her podcast, Day considers what failure can teach about work, relationships and identity. The book combines memoir with reflections on responding to disappointment and relinquishing the fear of getting things wrong.

Day gathers lessons from her life, readers and podcast guests into seven principles for handling failure. Examples spanning career setbacks, relationship endings and loss explore how acknowledging mistakes can change the way people understand difficult experiences.

Marisa believes she has found the life she wants with Jake until their new lodger, Kate, begins crossing unsettling boundaries. As questions about intimacy and their plans for a baby grow, Marisa struggles to determine whom she can trust.

Personal stories and experiences shared by podcast guests introduce teenagers to ways of handling setbacks. Day explores talking openly about failure, questioning harsh self-judgment and developing resilience when exams, friendships or other parts of life do not go as planned.

Day examines her own need to be liked and the friendships it produced, questioning whether more friends always mean greater connection. Personal stories and wider perspectives explore boundaries, changing relationships and the language available for understanding friendship’s importance.