Driftwood Valley

Between Friends is the 68th stand-alone novel by popular American author, Debbie Macomber. It details the friendship of two women born in the same year in Pine Grove, Washington, over some fifty years. Lesley Adamski and Jillian Lawton have been friends since grade school and continue to support each other as they deal with everything that life dishes out to them, including, but not limited to: births; weddings; loss of parents, siblings children, lovers and spouses, and the attendant funerals; divorce; cancer; infidelity; the draft; survivor guilt; abortion; alcoholism; heart attack; rebellious teenagers and jailed spouses. Instead of using a straight narrative, Macomber tells the story through journal entries (with differing fonts to denote different writers), letters (to friends, family members, acquaintances, lovers and spouses), notes passed in class, accounts and sales receipts, invitations, announcements, want ads, bank statements and cheques, newspaper cuttings, funeral notices, certificates and citations, library request forms, packing lists, drivers licences, arrest dockets, emergency room charts and emails; in short, the incidentals of life. She firmly establishes the year with reference to popular music, actors, books, movies, the price of petrol and postage, and world events like the Church ban on the Pill, the Oil Crisis, Vietnam War protests, Iran Hostage crisis, Mt St Helens eruption and many more. Macomber paints a picture of a friendship that survives over distance and time. Her characters are engaging and realistic; her plot is sometimes predictable, but has enough variation to keep the reader interested. A heartwarming read.