The Friendship Test: A Novel [Paperback] Noble, Elizabeth

From Publishers Weekly Noble (The Reading Group) spins another compulsively readable yarn, guided by the cozily familiar conceit of lifelong friendship taking root among vastly different gals. This fab four, deftly rendered with a few pen strokes as distinct personalities—brassy American Freddie; doting, maternal Tasmin; beautiful, sensitive Sarah; and scholarly, serious Reagan—meet in Oxford in the '80s and nurse each other through heartache and calamity with soul-baring dish sessions and fervent avowals of friendship, calling themselves the Tenko Club. The divergent threads of their adult lives are destined to knot again in 2004, after Freddie suffers a double blow with her husband's affair and her estranged father's death. Her oldest friends rally to her cause, each in her own way—from caustic honesty to fierce protectiveness—though bouts of tragedy and betrayal threaten to unravel their bonds. The action spans England and America, with a sprawling, twisty plot that will appeal to readers in both places. Noble's tender wit depicts the love among friends as steadfast and magical as any romance. Breezy and heartwarming, the novel's beach-book disposition also makes for a cozy winter read. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description One late wine- and gossip-fueled night, four friends on a lark create a fateful test of friendship -- one that challenges the very principles and boundaries of their alliance. To pass it means to never, at any cost, betray one another. Twenty years later, they must face that ultimate test. We meet them at the dawn of their camaraderie in the 1980s and already each woman is distinguished from the other: Tamsin, the compassionate mother hen; Reagan, the brazen and clever overachiever; Sarah, the seemingly perfect beauty; and Freddie, who despite being far from her U.S. home, finds strength in her friends. We forward to today, and as promised they are still firm friends . . . that is until a crisis occurs and the principles that define their friendship test are challenged. Exquisitely rendered by Elizabeth Noble, The Friendship Test is a powerful testament to the depth and capacity of female relationships. From School Library Journal Adult/High School–Freddie, Tamsin, Sarah, and Reagan met at Oxford and quickly forged a bond that continued through careers, marriages, and children. Fast-forward 18 years to the day that Freddie gets a double whammy: her husband tells her that he is seeing someone else and wants a divorce; hours later, her fathers housekeeper calls from America to break the news of his death. So begins a story of friendship that captivates readers from the outset. Certainly, it is formulaic in places: as Freddie tries to come to terms with jarring life changes, she finds herself depending more and more on Sarahs widowed husband. But for the most part, Noble bestows enough imperfections in her characters and twists in the plot to take the story beyond typical romance fare. Readers will enjoy the appealing sketches of London, Cape Cod, and Boston as the friends travel across the Atlantic to help Freddie sort out the ramifications of her parents death. Nobles second novel solidifies her reputation as a graceful and stylish writer with the ability to blend the humor and complexities of everyday friendships.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Noble follows up The Reading Group (2005) with this tale of a quartet of girls who meet in their first year at Oxford University. Freddie is a party-loving American; Tamsin, overweight and shy, is fiercely protective of her friends; and Sarah and Reagan, chums from childhood, are opposites in all respects, with Sarah the embodiment of refined beauty and Reagan blunt and unabashedly ambitious. Twenty years after their meeting, Freddie faces a double-whammy lif