Items30The creator’s order
  1. 1The Interestings (2013)The Interestings (2013) 5.6/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2013Friends who meet at an arts camp grow into very unequal kinds of success. Jules's affection for the group survives alongside envy of the money and freedom available to Ethan and Ash. Wolitzer gives those comparisons years to develop, making this a particularly good choice when old friends' lives…0
  2. 2Sula (1973)Sula (1973) 7.6/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1973Nel and Sula's friendship has a force that neither marriage nor the town's judgement can adequately explain. Their sharply different ways of living make loyalty a difficult question, rather than a badge either woman simply earns. Read this when you want intimacy that allows anger, fascination and…0
  3. 3Crossing to Safety (1987)Crossing to Safety (1987) 4.7/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1987Two couples become friends in the 1930s, and stay important to one another through decades of work, marriage and illness. Their unequal finances give hospitality and dependence a delicate edge; wanting another person to be happy can shade into wanting to manage them. Stegner lets those tensions…0
  4. 4Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022)Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022) 8.5/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2022Sam and Sadie make video games together, turning an old friendship into a demanding creative partnership. Their ability to build a world together does not give them an equal ability to explain what they need from each other. The pleasures of collaboration sit beside arguments about credit, ambition…0
  5. 5Swing Time (2016)Swing Time (2016) 7.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2016Two girls share a love of dance, but talent and opportunity send their lives in different directions. Tracey's presence continues to unsettle the narrator long after their childhood closeness has changed. Smith is sharp about the mixture of admiration, competition and class anxiety that can survive…0
  6. 6NW (2012)NW (2012) 6.9/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2012Leah and Natalie grew up together in north-west London; adult success has made their apparent common ground less secure. Their conversations carry all the comparisons that a shared childhood makes possible. The shifting forms and voices take some attention, but suit a story in which friends cannot…0
  7. 7The Great Believers (2018)The Great Believers (2018) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2018A circle of friends in 1980s Chicago faces the AIDS epidemic, while a later strand follows Fiona and the lives left in its wake. Makkai gives friendship the practical demands of looking after people, remembering them and continuing to live. The decades matter: being present during a crisis does not…0
  8. 8Still Life (2021)Still Life (2021) 6.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2021A wartime encounter between Ulysses and the older art historian Evelyn opens a story of attachments stretching between London and Florence. Around them, friendship becomes a form of household-building: people make room for one another's eccentricities and changing needs. Choose it when you want…0
  9. 9Miss Benson's Beetle (2020)Miss Benson's Beetle (2020) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2020A dissatisfied schoolteacher sets out for New Caledonia in search of a beetle, accompanied by an assistant who seems an improbable fit. Margery and Enid have to learn one another through the practical difficulties of an expedition. The comedy comes from their contrasting temperaments; trust arrives…0
  10. 10Quartet in Autumn (1977)Quartet in Autumn (1977) 10.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1977Four office colleagues approach retirement with habits that can keep company at a safe distance. Pym notices small offers, missed invitations and the awkwardness of becoming important to someone outside a shared workplace. Her dry humour makes ordinary neglect visible without pretending loneliness…0