by Shena Mackay
First published 1997
This anthology brings together writers examining friendship across a century of human experience. Mackay selects pieces spanning from the First World War to contemporary unpublished works, creating a literary conversation about connection. The collection moves between celebration and shadow, capturing moments of joy alongside episodes of loss. Some stories reveal friendship as society's binding force, while others expose betrayal's sting. Writers both familiar and overlooked contribute to this exploration of how friends shape identity. The selections balance humor with gravity, showing friendship's capacity to console and its power to wound. Mackay's curation reveals friendship's countless forms, from wartime bonds to modern relationships, demonstrating how this fundamental human connection adapts across generations while retaining its essential nature as love's expression.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, anthologies, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Hardcover · Orion