Exploring the Bonds of Friendship

It was 1967 when the Beatles melodically explained to us that we could get by with a little help from our friends. Then in 1971, James Taylor asked the musical question, "Ain't it good to know you've got a friend?" And soon after, in 1972, Bette Midler told us that "You gotta have friends." As can be seen below, writers as well as musicians have also explored the intricacies of friendships.

Jill McCorkle's FERRIS BEACH (Fawcett: Ballantine. 1993. 0-449-21996-8. pap. $6.99; LJ 9/15/00) is narrated by Katie Burns, raised in a small South Carolina town by a conservative Bostonian mother and an eccentric Southern father. Katie regards her hometown as humdrum, especially compared with life in nearby Ferris Beach, where "excitement and glamour start." Katie befriends Misty, who recently moved from that mecca of sophistication. Before long, the girls become inseparable. McCorkle tracks their relationship from preadolescence to late high school, exploring their emotions and experiences. Although this is appropriate for young adults, adult readers will enjoy McCorkle's insights into adolescent relationships as well.

Tracy Chevalier's FALLING ANGELS (Dutton. 2001. 0-525-94581-4. $24.95; pap. Plume. 2002. 0-452-28320-5. $13; LJ 10/15/01) details the enduring friendship between two young girls in post-Victorian London. Had their parents never visited adjoining grave sites, Lavinia Waterhouse and Maude Coleman might never have met. Nor would they have known Simon, son of a gravedigger. However, the three become fast friends, despite their varying social classes and upbringings. Tragedy, social upheaval, prejudice, and passion infuse this subtly written novel that not only beautifully evokes a turbulent era but also brings alive a variety of characters who are trying to find their way in a world that seems to be turning upside down.

Lane Von Herzen's 1991 debut COPPER CROWN (o.p.) takes place in rural Texas between 1913 and 1932. White Cassie and black Allie refuse to allow racism to interfere with their friendship. In the hopes of starting new lives, they flee their burning hometown with Cassie's newborn cousin Ruby, whose mother died in childbirth. Cassie and Allie hold fast to their strength, despite constant challenges from injustice and hardship. While "happily ever after" is a bit of a stretch in describing the ending, this novel, infused with Cassie's contact with spirits, is a rich journey depicting a most troubled time.

Sharon Wyse's THE BOX CHILDREN (Riverhead: Putnam. 2002. 1-57322-219-4. $18.95; pap. 2003. 1-57322-996-2. $13) is a small gem of a first novel. Life on a rural Texas wheat farm is not easy for 11-year-old Lou Ann Campbell: she lives with her father, brother, and abusive mother who has experienced five miscarriages in recent years. As an escape, Lou Ann creates companions from the five tiny dolls she stores in a shoebox. These are her only friends, until she cultivates a relationship with an older teenage farm worker and an Oklahoma City pen pal. To her mother's horror, Lou Ann and the daughter of a Mexican prostitute also develop a deep bond. This diary-style tale is complex and disturbing, and readers will not quickly forget Lou Ann's poignant struggle to find solace in her bleak isolation.

In THE LAST GIRLS (Algonquin. 2002. 1-56512-405-7. $24.95; pap. Ballantine. Sept. 2003. 0-345-46495-8. $14.95; LJ 6/15/02), Lee Smith takes a long look at the friendships forged in the mid-1960s when a group of five female students at a Southern college traveled down the Mississippi River in an homage to Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Thirty years later, Baby's widowed husband asks her oldest friends to reunite on a steamship cruise to scatter her ashes. Smith is as much a master at capturing the prefeminist South as she is visiting the moods and mores of these mature Southern women, each of whom chose a different path, and all of whom are now questioning their choices.

Novelist Jo-Ann Mapson centers BAD GIRL CREEK (S. & S. 2001. 0-7432-0256-2. $24; pap. 2003. 0-7432-1771-3. $13; LJ 4/1/01) around a group of friends who come together and try to ensure the success of a flower farm in coastal California. Wheelchairbound Phoebe, the farm's owner, selects three housemates on the basis of their individual domestic talents. Each woman has experienced misfortune, but all are eager to overcome their mistakes and problems. The four forge a bond that makes them family. Mapson continues the adventures of these women in Along Came Mary, the second entry in a projected trilogy.

Maeve Binchy's TARA ROAD (Dell. 2000. 0-440-23559-6. pap. $7.99; LJ 9/1/99) is a long, loving portrayal of friendships, old and new. To everyone, including herself, Ria seems happily married, the very picture of domestic bliss. But when she learns about her husband's affair with another woman and his new child, Ria impulsively decides to leave Ireland and accept an offer to trade homes with Rosemary, a New Englander who also feels the need to escape her surroundings. In the midst of carving out new lives for themselves in unfamiliar locales, both Ria and Rosemary discover that the friendships forged in their new environments have provided them with strength and self-knowledge. When the two women finally meet face to face, they realize that their newfound relationships are deeply important, as are the truths they discover about themselves.