Given its importance in most of our lives, friendship doesn’t seem to figure in fiction as much as might be expected, often part of characters’ backstories rather than its central focus, or perhaps that’s just the kind of fiction I read. I’ve already posted once on it but it’s a theme I’m sufficiently keen on to pick out five more 
novels where friendship is key, each with links to reviews on my blog.
From the title you’d think that friendship was far from central to German author Lucy Fricke’s Daughters but Martha and Betty are the lynchpins of each other’s lives. It’s Betty who Martha calls when her estranged father asks her to drive him to Switzerland to die. These two middle-aged women set out on the oddest of road trips with Kurt in the back seat, taking off on their own journey of discovery when Kurt makes an unexpected announcement. Fricke unfolds her story through Betty’s often sardonic voice, a brittle exterior covering a well of hurt accumulated over decades, softening her tone a little as revelations are made. What begins as an entertaining, snarkily narrated road novel turns into something more sober along the way and is all the better for it.
Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings has a very appealing structure: a group of young people form an enduring friendship which survives the buffeting of adulthood. It follows six teenagers who meet in 1974 at a summer camp aimed at fostering artistic talent, each very different from the other. They dub themselves the interestings in that ironic way that fifteen-year-olds do. From there, Wolitzer’s novel criss-crosses fifty years of social upheaval woven though the lives of her characters with a light touch. Wolitzer’s characters are engaging and fallible and her story utterly absorbing. A novel to sit back and lose yourself in.
Anna Hope’s Expectation follows a similar structure to Wolitzer’s. Opening in 2004, it explores themes of motherhood, love and feminism through the lives of Hannah, Cate and Lissa who settle into a house overlooking London Fields after graduation, living lives full of hard work and enjoyment. Much has changed by the end of the novel – betrayal, grief, and disappointment have all been suffered along with forgiveness, joy and hope. Each of the friends’ lives are followed in narrative threads which intertwine, interspersed with snapshots from their past filling in their stories. The result is a pleasingly immersive novel filled with wit, humanity and compassion which steers well clear of the saccharine.
In Swedish writer Johanna Hedman’s The Trio the lines between friendship and love affairs blur as they so often do. As you’ll have gathered from the title, Hedman’s novel is about three young people – two already the closest of friends – who form a bond when Hugo becomes a lodger in Thora’s house. He becomes obsessed by Thora and August, her sometimes lover, observing their intimacy with fascination and a tinge of envy, gradually drawn into it until he’s unsure whether it’s Thora or August he loves. Decades later, Thora and August’s daughter rings Hugo’s bell with questions to ask about her mother. I thoroughly enjoyed this accomplished debut which leaves much for readers to infer.
My last choice echoes my first in that best friends are to the fore. Jennifer Down’s Our Magic Hour follows twenty-four-year-old Audrey for just over a year after Katy kills herself, exploring the devastation of grief and loss through a group of young people, suddenly made aware of their own vulnerability. When her dearest friend dies, Audrey slowly falls apart while trying to keep everyone else from doing the same. When the crisis finally comes, she decides to strike out on her own, determined to try to make a life for herself but it’s hard, lonely work with missteps along the way. Our Magic Hour is a masterclass in elegant understatement. It could very easily have become overwhelmingly bleak but instead it’s a celebration of friendship and resilience in the darkest of times.
Any novels about friendship you’d like to add to my list?
If you’d like to explore more posts like this, I’ve listed them here.
Great theme!
It’s a mystery to me that there aren’t more novels devoted to it! Hoping to add a few to my list after this post.
Yes me too. I’ll have a think about it.
A couple I can think of… Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman, which I read recently, and Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie
I enjoyed the Shamsie but hadn’t come across Before We Were Innocent. Thanks, Cathy.
Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove and its sequel and prequels spring to mind as a good one on male friendship.
Thanks, Jessica. Male friendship is quite unusual as a theme in fiction.
I haven’t read any of these, but The Trio appeals. I would raise my hand for Tender by Belinda McKeon and Stephen King’s The Body (which became the movie Stand By Me)
I adored Tender! Thanks for the King recommendation. I enjoyed the film but hadn’t thought to read the book.
It’s a long short story really, the movie is pretty faithful.
Each of these looks worth a go. But my TBR is now so ridiculous, I’m actively seeking reasons not to add to it. So I’ll merely bear these in mind – at the moment.
Good luck! I’ve already added to my list this morning thanks to a recommendation. My fault for asking, of course.
😉
A good theme, I don’t think I’ve read any of these.
I’m surprised it’s not written about more often.
You’re so right about friendship rarely being at the forefront of novels. I do remember being interested in the Trio from your previous posts on it, and from this list Our Magic Hour interests me as well. The Professor and the Housekeeper I think is one which unlikely friendships are also at the core.
That’s a great recommendation! Thanks, Mallika. I find it strange given how important friendship is to us all.
A fairly recent novel that includes 2 women who have been friends for 80 years is Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark. And you’ve reminded me that I have yet to review it.
That sounds brilliant, Mary. I’ve read some great novels over the years about long marriages/relationships but not friendships. Definitely one to add to the list. Thanks!
I love a novel with a well portrayed friendship. The Trio is one of my possibles for August. I loved Daughters too.
I heartily recommend The Trio. Daughters was great, wasn’t it. I was particularly impressed at the way the tone of Betty’s narrative changed as revelations were made about her.
Great list. I’ve read all but The Trio (but have now downloaded a sample). My pick from your list is the Jennifer Down – she is an extraordinarily gifted writer.
I read the Down quite some time ago but it’s stayed with me. Just snapped up her Bodies of Light, not long published here.
I was just looking at Expectation at the weekend and wondering whether to go for it – for some reason I wasn’t in the mood, even though I’ve enjoyed Anna Hope before. You’ve made me realise the error of my ways 🙂
It’s a nice, easy weekend read if you fancy that! I enjoyed it very much.
A couple of colleagues at the bookshop loved Anna Hope’s Expectation, so it’s good to hear you rate it highly too. (I remember it being very popular at the time.) You may have included it in your previous list, but Mayflies immediately springs to mind when I think of novels about friendship. And Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitian novels, of course!
Mayflies is a great example of male friendship. Thanks for the reminder, Jacqui. I’m in the tiny minority of readers who are not Ferrante fans, I’m afraid.