Synopses & Reviews
From sharing secrets as children to chasing unconventional dreams as adults, network correspondent Sara James and wildlife filmmaker Ginger Mauney explore their learning curve on life through the lens of their thirty-year friendship
Transplanting southern roots to southern Africa, Ginger Mauney has earned the acceptance of a troop of baboons, unraveled mysteries of life and death in an elephant herd, and raised her young son in the wilds of Namibia—but has often felt the pull of the country she once called home. As a local television anchor, Sara James paid her own way to cover the war in Nicaragua, a gamble that later propelled her to NBC. At the network, James exposed slavery in Sudan and plunged to the gravesite of the Titanic, but struggled to balance her demanding career with marriage and motherhood.
Though the two lead seemingly opposite lives, there is much they share: a hometown in Richmond, Virginia, an attraction to life on the razor's edge, a weakness for men with foreign passports and accents, and a past. Now, in their heartfelt memoir, Mauney and James alternately narrate the story of how, they, two women separated by thousands of miles, have found themselves bound together through temperament, circumstance, and serendipity. The Best of Friends uses the example of their lives to explore such universal questions as: When your heart is broken, how do you heal? How do you realize your dreams without compromising yourself? How do you tame ambition to make room for love and family? And what does it mean as an adult to be a "best" friend?
The Best of Friends is James and Mauney's story, but it is also the story of so many women in their twenties, thirties, and forties who, with the help of friends, dared to reinvent their lives just when it seemed that everything was falling apart.
Review
“With grit, honesty, and humor…Their engrossing tale of friendship celebrates the importance of having a confidante.” More Magazine, HOT SUMMER READS
Review
“James and Mauney write about their friendship . . . in a way that will leave you saying ‘Me too.” Richmond Times-Dispatch
Review
“Their book…pays tribute to the advances that feminism brought…and to the enduring value of female friendship. Publishers Weekly
Review
“Dateline NBCs Sara James and her great friend Ginger Mauney have mastered the art of staying connected.” Today Show
Review
“Rich tales…A unique window into modern womens quest for meaning and calm in an ever more chaotic world.” Gwendolyn Bounds, author of Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, A Town, and the Search for What Matters Most
Review
“The Bach Minuet of memoirs…two vastly different stories…woven into the other to form a single, gorgeous melody.” Deborah Copaken Kogan, author of Shutterbabe and the forthcoming Suicide Wood
Review
“Two great friends, two fascinating individual stories, and a memoir that reads like a novel…” Lian Dolan, author of Satellite Sisters' UnCommon Senses
Review
“An honest, funny, often wrenching memoir that follows childhood friends…as they…withstand the ups and downs of marriage and kids.” Parenting Magazine
Review
“Sometimes the most unlikely people become best friends…a wonderful book.” CBS This Morning
Review
“Filled with…concerns about love, work, men, marriage and motherhood…that could be a favorite of womens reading groups.” Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
From sharing secrets as children to chasing unconventional dreams as adults, network correspondent Sara James and wildlife filmmaker Ginger Mauney explore their learning curve on life through the lens of their thirty-year friendship
Transplanting southern roots to southern Africa, Ginger Mauney has earned the acceptance of a troop of baboons, unraveled mysteries of life and death in an elephant herd, and raised her young son in the wilds of Namibia—but has often felt the pull of the country she once called home. As a local television anchor, Sara James paid her own way to cover the war in Nicaragua, a gamble that later propelled her to NBC. At the network, James exposed slavery in Sudan and plunged to the gravesite of the Titanic, but struggled to balance her demanding career with marriage and motherhood.
Though the two lead seemingly opposite lives, there is much they share: a hometown in Richmond, Virginia, an attraction to life on the razor's edge, a weakness for men with foreign passports and accents, and a past. Now, in their heartfelt memoir, Mauney and James alternately narrate the story of how, they, two women separated by thousands of miles, have found themselves bound together through temperament, circumstance, and serendipity. The Best of Friends uses the example of their lives to explore such universal questions as: When your heart is broken, how do you heal? How do you realize your dreams without compromising yourself? How do you tame ambition to make room for love and family? And what does it mean as an adult to be a "best" friend?
The Best of Friends is James and Mauney's story, but it is also the story of so many women in their twenties, thirties, and forties who, with the help of friends, dared to reinvent their lives just when it seemed that everything was falling apart.
About the Author
Sara James is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent and anchor who has reported for
Dateline, the
Today show, and
NBC Nightly News. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two daughters.
Filmmaker Ginger Mauney has lived and worked in Namibia for sixteen years. Her films have aired on National Geographic Explorer, PBS, Channel 4 (UK), and in more than fifty countries worldwide. She lives in Namibia with her husband and their son.