Too scared to be alone and staying with a guy for all the wrong reasons. I feel you, Elisabeth, and so does anyone that belongs to a baby or elementary school or high school or college group.Īnd then there’s Sam - who, while justifiably pissed at a late-in-the-novel betrayal, can’t seem to admit that perhaps that betrayal saves her from herself. And don’t you dare say you’ve never done that. What I did find realistic, though? The compulsive need to follow Facebook groups for the sole purpose of hate reading the commentary. I’d rather not risk giving it away, so I’ll just say this - just because I can’t see myself doing what Elisabeth does doesn’t it make it unrealistic, but … yeah. Which led me to consider if it was realistic. Then again, I don’t think I could ever do what she did. For example, would my marriage survive Elisabeth’s financial scheming? Err, probably not. When Sam starts babysitting for Elisabeth, a friendship forms, then deepens, then fractures, with only themselves to blame.įriends and Strangers was a welcome change up after such a dark (but excellent) read in “ My Dark Vanessa.” I found myself contemplating the plot points that advance the storyline (Should I have another baby? Should I marry this guy? What if my husband finds out I lied about XXX?) and considering them from different perspectives. Sam is a college senior struggling with a kinda-sorta engagement to a British man nearly 15 years her senior, not sure if she’s in love with him or just the idea of him, all the while trying to take up the cause of the minimum wage cafeteria workers on campus while juggling friendships with a rather elite student population. Andrew’s dad George is spending what should be his golden years trying to fight the Man that took away the everyman’s dream of making a solid living and Andrew’s mom Faye is busy trying to remove the invisible stick she think is up Elisabeth’s butt.

Even if that someone really, at the end of the day, is them.Įlisabeth is a New York Times reporter-turned-author, trying to adjust to small town New York life when she, her husband Andrew and their baby Gil leave the city to live the small college town life near Andrew’s parents. More, in that both of the novel’s protagonists can’t seem but to step in it when, from their viewpoint, they are trying to make someone’s world a better place. That said, there’s so much more to this story of two women, Elisabeth and Sam. Courtney Sullivan tackles two of the more trying times in a woman’s life - the impending sense of “What’s next?” when graduating from college, and the impending sense of “What the hell?” when becoming a mother - in “ Friends and Strangers,” due out June 30.

Oh, the mistakes we make when we are just trying to help.īestselling author J.

Friends and strangers courtney sullivan