cover image The Friends We Keep

The Friends We Keep

Jane Green. Berkley, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-58334-6

In this riveting contemporary, Green (The Sunshine Sisters) brings three college friends back together for an unforgettable reunion. In 1986 England, Evvie Williams, a half-Jamaican former child television star from Brooklyn, arrives at West Country University to start her freshman year. Evvie becomes fast friends and roommates with Maggie Hallwell, a girl from Sussex with three brothers and a loving, wealthy family. Though Evvie’s parents are divorced and the money she earned as a child is tied up in a trust, she and Maggie ignore their differences and bond instantly over their similarities. They meet Topher Winthrop, another student from the U.S., and the three quickly become inseparable. After graduation, the friends go their separate ways. Maggie works in PR in London and eventually marries Ben Curran, the boy she had a crush on during college. Evvie becomes a supermodel, and Topher gains fame as a soap opera actor. When they attend their 30th college reunion, hoping to reconnect after years of failing to stay in touch, old secrets come to light, threatening their newly reestablished friendships. Green writes with a clear, unfettered voice, filling this page-turner with plot twists and hinting at the power of forgiveness. This novel is an excellent companion for the beach or summer travel—especially to a class reunion. Agent: Shane Salerno, The Story Factory. (June)