Synopses & Reviews
As close as sisters for twenty years, Sarah and Lauren have been
together through high school and college, first jobs and first loves,
the uncertainties of their twenties and the realities of their thirties.
Sarah,
the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a
charity and is methodically planning her wedding. Lauren—beautiful,
independent, and unpredictable—is single and working in publishing,
deflecting her parents’ worries and questions about her life and future
by trying not to think about it herself. Each woman envies—and is
horrified by—particular aspects of the other’s life, topics of
conversation they avoid with masterful linguistic pirouettes.
Once,
Sarah and Lauren were inseparable; for a long a time now, they’ve been
apart. Can two women who rarely see one other, selectively share
secrets, and lead different lives still call themselves best friends? Is
it their abiding connection—or just force of habit—that keeps them
together?
With impeccable style, biting humor, and a keen sense of
detail, Rumaan Alam deftly explores how the attachments we form in
childhood shift as we adapt to our adult lives—and how the bonds of
friendship endure, even when our paths diverge.
Review
“[Alam] displays a robust understanding of and affection for the nuances
of female friendships as they evolve over time... captures something
truthful and essential about the push-pull of friendship.” Kirkus
Reviews