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  1. $20.96 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Firefly Lane

by Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane Cover

ISBN13: 9780312364083
ISBN10: 0312364083
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

Only 2 left in stock at $14.50!

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship....

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all — beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success...and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her...how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend....

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship — jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart...and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you — and knows what has the power to hurt you...and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget...one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

Review:

"Hannah (On Mystic Lake) goes a little too far into Lifetime movie territory in her latest, an epic exploration of the complicated terrain between best friends — one who chooses marriage and motherhood while the other opts for career and celebrity. The adventures of poor, ambitious Tully Hart and middle-class romantic Kate Mularkey begin in the 1970s, but don't really get moving until about halfway into the book, when Tully, who claws her way to the heights of broadcast journalism, discovers it's lonely at the top, and Katie, a stay-at-home Seattle housewife, forgets what it's like to be a rebellious teen. What holds the overlong narrative together is the appealing nature of Tully and Katie's devotion to one another even as they are repeatedly tested by jealousy and ambition. Katie's husband, Johnny, is smitten with Tully, and Tully, who is abandoned by her own booze-and-drug-addled mother, relishes the adoration from Katie's daughter, Marah. Hannah takes the easy way out with an over-the-top tear-jerker ending, though her upbeat message of the power of friendship and family will, for some readers, trump even the most contrived plot twists." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"A tearjerker that is sure to please the author's many fans." Library Journal

Review:

"Covering the 1970s to the new millennium, Hannah's latest is a moving and realistic portrait of a complex and enduring friendship." Booklist

Review:

"Hannah takes the easy way out with an over-the-top tear-jerker ending, though her upbeat message of the power of friendship and family will, for some readers, trump even the most contrived plot twists." School Library Journal

About the Author

Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels. She lives on islands in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband and son.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
bnanative, October 20, 2009 (view all comments by bnanative)
Boring.
Plodding.
Predictable.
Torturous.
Never ending.

All the angsty drama of young adult fiction coupled with the groping sex of a romance novel.

I would not have finished this book had I not been expected to read it for my bookclub.
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Margie, August 13, 2009 (view all comments by Margie)
A beautifully written book of friendship, betrayal, love and forgiveness. Do you recognize yourself and your best friend? It will move you to tears. Just beautiful.
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(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
lovewriter, January 18, 2009 (view all comments by lovewriter)
Few books have ever moved me to tears the way this one did. Touching, funny and memorable, Kristin Hannah has done wonders with her realistic passage of time in a unique way. By showcasing popular songs of each era as well as historic events, I felt that I was right there along with the characters.
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(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312364083
Author:
Hannah, Kristin
Publisher:
St. Martin's Press
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
General
Subject:
Female friendship
Subject:
Friendship in adolescence.
Subject:
Bildungsromans
Subject:
Best friends
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
February 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
479
Dimensions:
9.56x6.52x1.56 in. 1.63 lbs.

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