We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade

Businesswoman Arons debuts with a heartfelt memoir about her personal and professional relationship with the late fashion designer Kate Spade. The two met the day they moved into their dorms at the University of Kansas in 1981, and remained friends and business partners until Spade died by suicide in 2018. Lengthy chapters about building the Kate Spade brand, which catalog Arons’s late nights working alongside Spade; Spade’s husband. Andy; and entrepreneur Pamela Bell in 1990s New York City, will satisfy fashion aficionados. It’s the evolution of Arons and Spade’s sisterlike relationship, however, that lends the book its beating heart. The title is in homage to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which Arons and Spade adored, and which serves as a touchstone for the sweetness and optimism that characterized their bond. (An anecdote about Moore visiting the Spade showroom is particularly delightful.) When that optimism dwindles, and Spade’s debilitating struggles with depression and anxiety take over, it’s gut-wrenching. Moving, insightful, and bursting with love, this ode to female friendship resonates far beyond the retail racks. Agent: Dan Strone, Trident Media Group. (June)