'Everyone, at some point in their lives, is faced with this window... You can take a leap, do something off the wall, something reckless. It's your last chance, and most people miss it. They just walk past it. Then one day it closes, and once it's closed it's closed forever.'Melissa has a new baby and doesn't want to let it change her. Damian has lost his father and intends not to let it get to him. Michael is still in love with Melissa but can't quite get close enough to her to stay faithful. Stephanie just wants to live a normal, happy life on the commuter belt with Damian and their three children but his bereavement is getting in the way. Or is it something else, or someone else? Are they all just in the wrong place?Set in London against the backdrop of Barack Obama's historic election victory, Ordinary People is an intimate, immersive study of identity and parenthood, sex and grief, friendship and aging, and the fragile architecture of love. With its distinctive prose and addictive soundtrack, it is the story of our lives, and those moments that threaten to unravel us.