A Family Affair

Name: A Family Affair
Author: Jodi Taylor
ISBN: 9781035439362

Smallhope & Pennyroyal · Novel 2 · 2026

Smallhope hopes to spend some time recovering, with Pennyroyal beside her and the next profitable job still at the planning stage.

Book 2 of 2 in Smallhope & Pennyroyal

AI-generated illustration inspired by A Family Affair; not a book cover.

What it’s about

Smallhope hopes to spend some time recovering, with Pennyroyal beside her and the next profitable job still at the planning stage. A phone call abruptly interrupts that prospect. Someone has targeted the partners, and the threat comes from a person familiar with Pennyroyal’s past.

Rest gives way to finding out who is responsible and confronting the danger ahead. A Family Affair therefore begins with the pair looking towards their future, only to discover that earlier connections may dictate what they must do next.

The investigation is personal from the outset: Pennyroyal’s history is part of the problem they have to address together.

Listen or read

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Can I start here?

This is book 2 in its series. Start with the first novel for its clearest introduction.

Reader questions

Do I need to read the earlier books first?

Yes. Read the preceding novel before this novel, which is book 2 in its own sequence. This keeps the returning characters’ introductions in order. The official chronology separates each fictional world. Follow this series’ numbered route to keep your reading sequence clear.

Source: joditaylorshop.com

Who narrates the A Family Affair audiobook?

Zara Ramm reads the linked UK edition of this novel. Check the exact recording when choosing an audiobook. The product page identifies its narrator and edition together. The narrator credit belongs to this particular recording. Other editions can have different performers, so compare them before choosing.

Source: audible.co.uk

Where this fits

Read this novel after The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal. It is the second novel in the dedicated series and begins from the partners’ existing circumstances. Starting with the Ballad preserves the earlier story’s discoveries and gives their relationship context.

The site lists these two full-length books separately from their appearances in the other time-travel series.

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Why readers love it

Our view

the shift from outward-facing recovery work to a threat aimed at the partners gives the sequel a useful change of emphasis. Readers who were drawn to Pennyroyal’s exceptional competence have a reason to be curious about the past behind it.

Smallhope’s hoped-for rest also makes the interruption easy to appreciate without needing a detailed plot summary. We see this as a promising choice for fans of partnerships tested by personal history.

Read it for the question of what the pair face together, while leaving the identity of their opponent and the outcome for the novel.

Listening notes

Zara Ramm reads the linked unabridged UK edition, with a duration of eleven hours and twenty-one minutes. It is shorter than the Ballad recording, making the two-book audio route a little over twenty-three and a half hours in total.

If you switch from print to listening for this sequel, choose this novel’s own edition rather than a series overview or similarly named title.