"You'll definitely see elements of yourself and your girlfriends in this terrific novel," is how Redbook described Best Friends-which may explain why this first novel from an unknown author has been quietly building to a surprising hardcover success. It's the kind of book that is shared among friends, an instantly familiar and emotionally immediate story of two women who become college roommates, confidantes, and friends for life.

Clare, from a working-class Protestant family, has never met anyone like Sally: wealthy, pretty, and Jewish, barely emancipated from her close-knit Los Angeles family. Over the decades, Clare is drawn deeper into the circle of Sally's family-until she uncovers the kind of secret that no one wants to tell a best friend.

"A valentine to the staying power of women's friendships." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

"She captures the feel of things, the complexity of human lives, and the ability of time to expose and to heal." (Josephine Humphreys, author of Nowhere Else on Earth)

"So freshly observed and gifted with such a powerful sense of the ravages of time that it feels utterly new...The book never loses its edge, at once compassionate and humorous." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Moody's first novel examines the dynamics of friendship between two very different women. Meeting as college roommates, the girls are surprised to learn that, despite their many differences, the two form a bond that will last a lifetime.

"You'll definitely see elements of yourself and your girlfriends in this terrific novel, " is how Redbook described Best Friends — which may explain why this first novel from an unknown author has been quietly building to a surprising hardcover success. It's the kind of book that is shared among friends, an instantly familiar and emotionally immediate story of two women who become college roommates, confidantes, and friends for life.

Clare, from a working-class Protestant family, has never met anyone like Sally: wealthy, pretty, and Jewish, barely emancipated from her close-knit Los Angeles family. Over the decades, Clare is drawn deeper into the circle of Sally's family — until she uncovers the kind of secret that no one wants to tell a best friend.

Martha Moody is a physician. Her short story, Like the Arrival of Angels, was a finalist for the Best American Short Stories of 1985. This is her first novel.