Friendships can be powerful, comforting, challenging, special, and impactful. The memory of a true friendship never leaves you, and the bonds can stretch across decades and continents.
Each of these books shows different forms that friendship can take, the various ways we can come together to find it, and the many challenges it can support us through during different periods of our lives.
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Moving into a condo she inherited from her long-dead mother, a young teenager meets the eclectic group already living in the complex, each of whom are locked in their own problems and haunted by their own pasts.
With a little magical realism, and just a whiff of ghost story mixed in, the book is a lyrical, moving tale of the power of love, connection, and community. A short, sweet, easy read, it will surprise you with its heart and kindness.
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
Set after World War II, in the village where Jane Austen spent the last years of her life, a group of passionate fans come together to erect a museum in her memory. From a struggling farmer to a Hollywood movie star, the people in the group could not be more different, but as each struggles with their own personal challenges and losses, they find comfort and support in their shared loved of the authoress and in the bonds that start to form.
It is an ode to the power of the books we love, the support of friendship, and the bravery it takes to make the first steps towards uncertainty and recovery.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Four teenagers who have been friends their entire lives, face their first summer apart. A pair of jeans, that manages to fit all four of them, keeps them connected as they mail the pair back and forth to one another all summer long.
A book about growing up and coming of age, and the complicated emotions that can result, the book (and series as a whole) is a beautiful representation of the special friendships that can withstand time and distance.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
- Recommended by Naomi
