“In these charming, wise, and heartfelt stories, friendship is both the tie that binds and a map of the interconnected paths of love.”
The Girls’ Almanac chronicles the lives of Jenna and Lucy—two thirty-something women who desperately long for a true friend—as well as the lives of the women and men who have touched them: friends, lovers, parents, and neighbors. Set across the Northeast-through suburban neighborhoods, preppy camps, island resorts, and Ivy League colleges-as well as far flung locales like Ecuador and Iceland, The Girls’ Almanac traces the friendships of women willing to risk both self-consciousness and intimacy, loss and betrayal, in pursuit of a proper best friend. Exploring the fascinating closeness and distance that female friendships encompass, The Girls’ Almanac reveals the map of Jenna and Lucy’s interconnected lives, and ultimately their pathways to each other.
Reviews
“Franklin’s collection of stories centers on a group of women who are connected tangentially, with two of the characters becoming fast friends in the final story. It highlights the struggle of moving toward and the joy of finding a true best friend. The stories begin in girlhood, travel through adolescence, and progress into adulthood. Some take place in faraway locales like Iceland and Ecuador. Interesting plot lines include one woman dealing with her cheating fiance’s drowning and another woman struggling to bear a child after multiple miscarriages…Each story is appealing and well written…Enjoyable moments are plenty…”- Library Journal
“A weblike illustration mapping the relationships of 30 characters kicks off Franklin’s collection of interconnected short stories… Franklin’s smart prose sees her characters through rites of passage including first sexual encounters, marriage and motherhood, as well as difficulties such as terminal illness, infidelity and widowhood. Highlights include “Kindling,” a story of two roommates and their communal living situation; “A Map of the Area,” set in an upscale hippie retreat; and “The Math of the Fourth Child,” about two women trying to predict the future of a yet-to-be-conceived child… thought-provoking stories pull readers through.”- Publisher’s Weekly
“In these charming, wise, and heartfelt stories, friendship is both the tie that binds and a map of the interconnected paths of love. Emily Franklin has written a wonderful, utterly absorbing book.”- Mameve Medwed author of How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
“Emily Franklin’s stories are unnervingly perceptive and moving … she has a remarkable talent for diving to the heart of things and spinning a story around that center.”- Lewis Robinson Whiting Award author of Officer Friendly and Other Stories
“Emily Franklin writes beautifully of the essential, pivotal moments in women’s lives. Reading The Girls’ Almanac I find myself smiling in recognition again and again, as mothers, daughters, sisters and friends lift each other’s daily experience to the light and find surprising, healing truths within.”- Heidi Jon Schmidt, author of The Rose Thieves, Darling? and The Bride of Catastrophe
“In these taut, tender, transporting stories, Emily Franklin combines an appreciation of human nature and a flair for language that keeps us reading and wanting more. After I finished these stories, I found myself missing the women who populated them. They’d come to feel like close girlfriends.”- Judith Claire Mitchell, author of The Last Day of the War
“…lovely, keenly observed stories; snapshots of women which, taken together, allow us to see their lives unfold as if we’re leafing through a photo album…”- Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry and Her
“Though told in the present tense, Emily Franklin’s stories have a wistful awareness of the passing of time, and her great attention to detail seems an intricate form of nostalgia.”- Lily King, author of The Pleasing Hour