Best of Friends [Hardcover]

Joanna Trollope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 1995

A network of deep friendships connects the members of two families in the village of Whittingbourne - intelligent, healthy, recognizable families. In this novel about friendships and betrayal, teenagers ache for stability and unwed grandmothers find true love at eighty.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Clearly read by Davina Porter, a well-known audio voice, Trollope's (The Choir, Audio Reviews, LJ 3/1/97) novel focuses on Gina and Laurence, two friends who were drawn together in adolescence by their unhappy home lives. It is about their relationship as well as those of their children. When Laurence proposes to Hillary, he tells her about his best friend, Gina, rather disconcerting information for a bride-to-be. But Laurence and Hillary and Gina and her new husband begin to spend time together, and over the years both families, including their children, grow close. Then Gina's husband leaves her, and she turns to Lawrence for comfort. While entertaining, the story offers few surprises in the form of complex characters and plot twists. The audiobook suffers some from the abridgment, which condenses Trollope's description, one of her strengths. Still, the audio quality is excellent. Recommended for those who desire light listening.ANancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Supple prose and an apparently effortless ability to tell a richly layered story are just some of Trollope's more manifest gifts. In this latest foray into the heady realms of English middle-class life, two very modern married couples grapple with the ripples and rushes that may be counted on to upset unions after some 20 years of togetherness. Caught in the onslaught of emotional upheavals are Sophy, only child of Gina and Fergus, and the three teenage sons of Laurence and Hilary. When spelled out in explicit terms, a narrative filled with separation and divorce, love affairs, reconciliation, and coming-of-age portrayals sounds all too commonplace; yet in Trollope's finely crafted novel, it is both a delectably sweet and intensely satisfying undertaking to be swept right along with these carefully crafted characters. Anticipate plenty of demand for what promises to be a sought-after book. Alice Joyce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing; First Canadian Edition edition (March 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747520003
• ISBN-13: 978-0747520009
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,954,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read this beautiful book and wept., July 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Best of Friends (Hardcover)

Gina and Laurence have been best friends since they were teenagers. Gina marries Fergus, and Laurence marries Hilary, and the two couples and their families are the best of friends. But the emotional fallout that occurs when Fergus leaves Gina is the subject of this book. That event is like a stone dropping into a lake, with the ripples of effect on the other three adults and their children beautifully and sensitively told by this English author in a most understated way. This book is about love in all its guises and about the loss of love. Most touching of all is the description of the love relationship between Vi, Gina's eighty year old mother and a neighbor, Dan. This book made me laugh and it made me cry. Read it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life's complexities..., August 6, 2000

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Best of Friends (Hardcover)

This was my first Joanna Trollope book and I enjoyed it--read it in two sittings. Trollope writes beautifully, and this will not be the last book of hers I read. However, I would have liked a bit more character development.

The most understandable character is Gina's daughter Sophy, who seems to be a bit like her grandmother Vi. (Sometimes when parents are not emotionally available, a child is lucky enough to live near a loving grandmother.) To obtain full development for the major characters, Trollop would have had to double the size of her book, and then it might have been more like "The Shell Seekers" (Not storywise--I use this book as an example where I as the reader had fuller understanding of the motivations of the main characters.)

The story centers on two old friends, Gina and Laurence who live in the town where they grew up, though both have acquired spouses elsewhere. One day, Gina's spouse Fergus leaves her, and moves from the village to London. This action devestates Gina and Sophy her daughter. Gina goes to stay with her friend Laurence and his wife Hillary at their small hotel, while Sophy moves in with her grandmother Vi. After three weeks at the hotel, Hillary suggests that Laurance tell Gina to leave, so Gina finally moves home. But Laurance continues to see her as he always has--as a friend. One day, their relationship slips over the line. The rest of the book is about the effect of that action on the lives of the other characters-Vi, Sophy, Hillary, and the three boys of Hillary and Laurance. The father Fergus is told by his daughter Sophy that his action has lead to a ripple effect that he could not have forseen when he decided to move away.

I don't think Gina is a villan(ess). Trollope is depicting real people, and real people for the most part are complex. Most individuals want to be loved, but sometimes they do not behave in loveable ways. Love is unconditional, however, we don't love someone because they behave as we wish, we just love them. And, it's difficult to understand what goes on between two people, even when we are the observer with an author to give us clues.

Over the years, I've observed a number of relationships evolve between two people who are married to other people. In some cases, the man or woman or both were looking for excitment outside marriage. On the other hand, sometimes decent people stray. This doesn't mean it's morally okay, just that it happens, even when the individual was not expecting or intending it to happen. I think this is the case for Laurance. He says he loves both Hillary and Gina. Of course, the repercussions of his behaviour are hard to bear, particularly for the children, though they are awful for Hillary. It's such a shock to discover the person you loved, and yes took for granted, may be very human and vulnerable.

I can't say very much about how things turn out in this book, except, from my perspective it is for the best, although frequently, that is not how I personally have seen it turn out. And, I am not sure that the woman who ends up with Laurance in the end is the happiest.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Joanna Trollope Fails to write an intriguing novel, June 11, 2000

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best of Friends (Paperback)

This author was highly recommended to me by a friend with whom I share many similar reading tastes. Imagine my disappointment when I had to force myself to finish this book.

The characters were not likeable and I could not care about them. Only Hillary evoked any sympathy from me. Gina and Sophy and Lawrence and Fergus all left me cold. I cannot imagine a group of more unlovable characters all assembled in one novel. How could anyone feel for the spoiled, self-centered, uncaring Gina? And how did she become this way? She certainly did not grow up pampered and her mother Vi seems to be a caring person. Lawrence came across as dim-witted and totally controlled by his feeling-of-the-day. Because I could not care about these characters, I could not care about the repercussions of their adulterous shenanigans and will not be inspired to read anything else by this author.