Bookends

Following the success of her national blockbusters Jemima J and Mr. Maybe, Jane Green, a British superstar, tells a dazzling story about old friends getting back together and old rivalries resurfacing.

Best friends Catherine Warner and Simon Nelson are complete opposites who are always together and have bad luck falling in love. Cath is disorganized, untidy, and emotionally distant since she had her heart shattered a few years ago. Si is spiteful, very neat, and longing for a mate of her own. Their longtime friends Josh and Lucy, who are blissfully married and have a devil-spawn kid and a terrible Swedish nanny named Ingrid, also reside in West Hampstead, London, with them.

Everything is good, kind of, until a college acquaintance who is notorious for shattering hearts, Portia, unexpectedly shows up. The four friends are happy to have Portia back in the group, even though they have all matured and separated from her. But is Portia just trying to get in touch with old pals, or is there anything more going on here? A hilarious sequence of events that push the foursome's friendships to the brink and left them wondering whether a happy ending is in store are shortly set off by her return.

Thankfully, Cath has enough to distract her from Portia's plans, such as her brave choice to quit her advertising career in order to realize her goal of owning a bookshop. And when the bookshop sale is done, there's James, the attractive real estate agent who continues to stop by. Could it be that his charming youthful charm and enticing grin will be the one to win Cath over?

Bookends is primarily a narrative about friendship—its ups and downs, its complexities and turns—and how it perseveres through the trials of love, ambition, marriage, and, most importantly, growing up. It is told with Jane Green's enthralling wit and flair. Bookends is Green's most brilliant book to date; it's erudite, warm-hearted, and full of mouthwatering surprises.