To My Dearest Friends

by: Patricia Volk

Published by: Vintage Contemporaries, A division of Random House, Inc.

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

I read Patricia Volk’s memoir, Stuffed, several years ago and remember thinking that she described people so well that I felt I had really seen or met them. She has used same ability to bring characters to life in this recent novel.

The book begins in a rather confusing way. Two women who don’t know each other are requested to be at a lawyer’s office to receive the key to a safety deposit box that belonged to a mutual good friend, Roberta, who recently died from breast cancer. With each chapter, Volk alternates voices between Nanny and Alice, the two women. The letter they receive is addressed “To My Dearest Friends,” but in fact is a love letter to Roberta/Bobbie from an unknown person. Nanny and Alice need to decide what to do with this information – keep it a secret from Roberta’s husband and daughter? Find out whom the letter was from? Do nothing? The meet for lunch several times to ponder these questions.

Patricia Volk describes a New York City that seems like a pleasant place to live – lunches at Bergdorf’s, shopping in boutiques, and most daily needs within walking distance. Nanny is a real estate agent who is helping a couple find a suitable apartment to buy. Alice owns a boutique where “gently” worn clothing is sold on consignment. These women are over fifty, their children are grown and Nanny is a widow. Yet Volk gives them full, intense and interesting lives.

I think that Volk has created a novel that combines humor, pathos, beauty, confusion and life stage changes in a way that is truly enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone, but especially to women in their midlife years.

Armchair Interviews agrees.