A deep yearning to belong runs throughout Xhenet Aliu’s second novel, residing in each nook and crevice we enter. All of the finely drawn characters that populate Everybody Says It’s Everything and its tale of everyday life in Waterbury, Connecticut, is running to stand still, on a constant quest for something more. And with each childhood reflection, each attempt to embrace an ever-changing world, and each unmet desire to connect, Aliu compels us to run alongside them.

At the heart of this story sit twins Drita and Petrit, whom we meet aged nine, then as teenagers and in their mid-20s, taking us from the early 1980s to late 90s. Adopted at birth by Jackie and Dom, from now deceased Albanian parents, the sister and brother bond as children but soon grow apart. She’s a well-behaved academic high achiever; he’s a wastrel that bounces from one bad scenario to the next. Both are curious about their Albanian heritage, but Petrit takes it a step further, seeking kinship with a brethren ready to head out to Kosovo and fight for their people.

While he’s yearning to belong to a cause, Drita longs for purpose, having dropped out of university to look after their sick mother. Who, in turn, has her own internal ache, with Aliu taking us back in time to 1970 when Jackie and Dom first become entwined in loveless matrimony. We also see inside the malnourished (in every way) childhood of Petrit’s girlfriend Shanda, leading to an understandable struggle to function outside a drug-induced haze. Each character has their own clear voice, and we’d head out to bat for any of them (though Dom, unremitting in his chauvinism and bigotry, remains two-dimensional and devoid of a backstory, which feels remiss).

It’s not always necessary to follow the ‘write what you know’ adage, but it serves us well here. Aliu was herself born in Waterbury to an Albanian father, bringing an authenticity to both the city’s post-industrial floundering, and the nuances of Balkan culture. Setting the bulk of the novel in 1999 also allowed Aliu to revisit a fledgling online world accessed via dial-up modems, as Drita seeks connection in a way so many would in the years to come. 

And while Everybody Says It’s Everything is not without tragedy and intrigue, it doesn’t seek to hook the reader with sharp twists and turns. Instead, Aliu quietly wraps an invisible thread around our hearts and minds, pulling us gently but irrevocably into these troubled yet hopeful lives. Only then do you realise that you can’t wait to get back to these characters, and that you’ll miss them when it’s all over. 

Everybody Says It’s Everything is published by Random House on Tuesday 18 March.