The Myth of You and Me

When best friends fall out, the wounds are not easily healed. Cameron felt betrayed, and time has not made her more willing to forgive Sonia. But when her recently deceased boss leaves her with an obligation to find Sonia, she takes that obligation seriously. Staci Snell gives a steady, understated narration. Central to Snell's characterization of Sonia is repressed emotion, particularly restrained anger and a sense of betrayal; Cameron projects an undercurrent of longing to break loose from the limits she has placed on herself. Snell brings subtle intensity to the final confrontation between the women, followed by an interesting twist to the plot. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

July 25, 2005
Stewart peers into the complicated heart of friendship in a moving second novel (after 2000's Body of a Girl
). Ever since a cataclysmic falling out with her best friend, Sonia, after college, Cameron's closest companion has been Oliver, the 92-year-old historian she lives with and cares for in Oxford, Miss. Oliver's death leaves Cameron alone and adrift, until she discovers that he has given her one last task: she must track down her estranged best friend (whose letter announcing her engagement Cameron had so recently ignored) and deliver a mysterious present to her. Cameron's journey leads her back to the people, places and memories of their shared past, when they called themselves "Cameronia" and swore to be friends forever. It was a relationship more powerful than romantic love—yet romantic love (or sex, anyway) could still wreck it. Stewart lures the reader forward with two unanswered questions: What was the disaster that ended their friendship, and what will be revealed when Cameron and Sonia are together again and Oliver's package is finally opened? The book is heartfelt and its characters believable jigsaw puzzles of insecurities, talents and secrets, and if Cameron's carefully guarded anger makes her occasionally disagreeable, readers will nevertheless welcome her happy ending. Agent, Gail Hochman.

This story of Cameron and Sonia's friendship, told from Cameron's point of view, contains mysteries: What ruined the two friends' relationship? And why has Cameron's late boss asked her to deliver something to Sonia despite their long estrangement? Alissa Hunnicutt's youthful voice is well suited to that of the protagonist. Oddly, Hunnicutt appears to do better creating male characters; Sonia's voice is too high-pitched and that of her office mate, Daisy, sounds odd and affected. These relatively minor distractions aside, this production does a decent job transporting us back and forth from past to present as we untangle the snarls of an intense friendship. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine