First published 2006
Alison's modeling career lies in ruins when she encounters Veronica, a sharp-tongued office temp twice her age, in the neon-lit nights of 1980s New York. The two women could hardly be more different. Alison drifts through the city's fashion world, beautiful but lost. Veronica works temporary jobs, older and weathered but fiercely intelligent. Their friendship begins in the clubs and streets of Manhattan, where both women navigate their own forms of survival. Over two decades, their bond deepens and fractures, encompassing moments of cruelty and kindness, selfishness and sacrifice. Alison watches as Veronica faces illness and mortality while she herself ages out of youth's promise. The story moves between past and present, revealing how their connection shaped both women's understanding of love, death, and what it means to truly know another person.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, friends-to-lovers
Setting: New York
Period: 1980s, 2000s
257 pages · Paperback · Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group