Read One Good Friend Deserves Another Online
Authors: Lisa Verge Higgins
Only when the music filled the room with swirling lights and a rocking beat did the crowd around the couple disperse to rush the dance floor. Through the activity, Marta glimpsed a radiant Dhara ducking as she wove through the dancers toward the three of them clustered by the window. Behind her trailed a tall, grinning Desh, clasping her hand tightly.
“A happy bride,” Wendy stated, “should look like that.”
And she, Kelly, and Wendy—all three of them, all at once—threw their arms wide in welcome.
Novelists are thought to live solitary lives. That’s pure fiction. Like most of my colleagues, I live in a house full of children, on a street full of good neighbors, and in a working community teeming with fascinating people. My stories could never be written without help and guidance from these dear friends.
The first tip of the hat goes to the Sunday Evening Ladies, my darling critique group, whose insightful opinions are given with a dose of laughter and always make the book better. Thanks, too, to Shobhan Bantwal, a fabulous novelist who reviewed this manuscript with an eye toward Indian culture; to Carol Higgins, former volunteer EMT and current cardiothoracic nurse, who guided me through the thorny thicket of medical issues; and to Tom Donatelli, bon vivant, for nautical advice and raucous dinnertime conversation. Everything I did right is due to them; anything I did wrong is purely my own fault.
I’d also like to raise a huge huzzah to the folks at Grand Central Publishing. The foreign rights staff continues to do a mighty job selling my stories to far shores (and, yes, I’m sure we’ll convince those Frenchmen to stop laughing at my last name, eventually). I marvel at the creativity of the art department, the hard work of the marketing folks, and the energy of the sales staff. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job screaming from the rooftops.
Most of all, I’d like to express my gratitude to Alex Logan, strong advocate and editor extraordinaire. Thanks for adding this filly to your stable.
One Good Friend
Deserves Another
I am a mother of three teenage daughters. They are smart, lovely young women who are the source of all joy—and chaos!—in my life. I didn’t write
One Good Friend Deserves Another
because I’m considering arranged marriages for them. But I’ll sheepishly confess that the thought has crossed my mind.
I can’t help myself. Like any mother, I feel the possibility of their future pain keenly. I wish I could protect them from heartbreak in the same the way I once protected them from scraped knees, burned fingers, and broken glass. I know that’s impossible. There isn’t a salve in the world that can mend a broken heart.
And I’ve yet to meet a woman who hasn’t experienced one.
Here’s the paradox: When I’m out to dinner with new friends, one of the first questions I ask is how the couple met. We all have our tales. Strange are the circumstances that can lead a German sailor to fall in love with an American college student while they both happen to be abroad in Spain. Or how an engaged woman could abruptly end her wedding plans after bumping into an old boyfriend at a high school reunion. Or how a rugby player could surrender his plans to enter a New York City law school just to follow his girl to the opposite coast. A moment of madness for which this now married woman is profoundly grateful.
All these tenuous connections, odd circumstances, and life-altering risks are precisely what led—improbably, impossibly—to the solid relationships many of my friends and I now cherish. Hearts thrive on chaos, in fiction as in life. What kind of existence would any of us lead, without that glorious unpredictability?
So this mother braces herself for the inevitable. I know my future sons-in-law are out there. I know my girls will eventually find them. Until then, I will do what any mother, and any friend, should do. I will breathe very slowly, keep my counsel until asked, and hope the fates are kind.
For what I really want for my daughters is a chance to experience wonder, joy, love…and to gather some breathtaking stories of their own.
The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship
“[A] life-affirming novel…A happy reminder that life is all about taking risks.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This well-written contemporary buddy book contains plenty of depth…the premise of friends knowing you at times better than you want to admit makes for a strong tale.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Quirky, original, and startlingly refreshing, this is a novel about friends. It’s a novel about risks. And it’s a novel about dreams, what we thought they were and what we discover them to be…[Higgins is] gifted and talented…Great novel. Great reading. Great characters and plot.”
—TheReviewBroads.com
“Ms. Higgins has a sure-to-be hit on her hands in this, her first foray into mainstream women’s literature. The first thing that was apparent to me was her astonishing storytelling capability, the second was her capacity to pull some deep emotions from me while reading…a heart-wrenching tale that will affect even the most stoic readers…a gracefully flowing narrative that will transport her readers from the most exotic of locations to the mundane of everyday life…an inspiring, heartwarming, and very emotional read.”
—GoodReads.com
“A lovely novel with moments of deeply moving insight into what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a friend. Read it and share it with your own friends—you’ll be glad you did!”
—Nancy Thayer,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Hot Flash Club
and
Beachcombers
“Offering words of wisdom from a dying friend,
The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship
inspires us to focus on what’s really important in our lives.”
—Liza Palmer, international bestselling author
of
Conversations with the Fat Girl
and
A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents
“An amazing novel of love, friendship, and community. A truly joyous read that marks an impressive debut.”
—Jane Porter, author of
Flirting with
Forty
and
She’s Gone Country
“Poignant, romantic, and funny…about the need for our closest friends to occasionally give us a shove in the right direction when we’ve lost our way. You’ll recognize yourself in these women. I loved it.”
—Claire LaZebnik, author of
Knitting Under the Influence
and
If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now
“Expertly woven together by Lisa Verge Higgins…
simply but beautifully written
…
the common thread is Rachel, who has given the best gift a friend can give
—
a second chance.”
—
RomanceJunkies.com
Praise for The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Verge Higgins
Reading Group Guide © 2012 by Hachette Book Group
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected]
. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Hachette Book Group
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First e-book edition: June 2012
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ISBN 978-1-4555-1049-8