First Friends

May 1, 2006
There's a solid story to be found in this novel, the first of Willett's 11-year career (in its first American publication), but there's also a lot of clutter. The book follows best friends Kate Webster and Cassandra Wivenhoe from 1964 to 1981, as they endure boarding school, the courtship of British naval officers and less-than-satisfying marriages. Willett details life for the navy wives while their husbands are at sea, fraught with loneliness, drab quarters, frequent relocations and even more frequent extramarital affairs (by sailors and spouses alike). Promiscuous Cass thrives in the arrangement, but Willett doles out punishment through the death of Cass's 15-year-old daughter—revealed in the prologue but unexplained until the end of the book. Staid Kate, meanwhile, remains true to her cruel, loveless husband, witnessing the infidelity of those around her. Willett has a tendency to tell certain dramatic scenes rather than show them ("By the time that it was all over—and just as dreadful as she feared—she was relieved to see him go back to sea"), which confuses and frustrates.

July 1, 2006
This satisfying novel chronicles the lives and loves of two lifelong friends. Soul mates since their childhood days at a British boarding school, Kate Webster and Cassandra Wivenhoe both marry naval officers who spend much of their time away from hearth and home. While stalwart Kate attempts to manufacture a loving family despite her rigid, emotionally abusive husband, the more free-spirited Cass embarks upon a series of extramarital affairs that culminate in tragedy. As the years pass and Kate and Cass move from girlhood into womanhood and motherhood, the one thing they can always count on is unconditional support from each other. When fate intervenes in the cruelest manner, it is this mutual love and respect that enables each to embrace what remains and look toward the future. Willett, like Maeve Binchy, has a knack for gently drawing readers into the unexpected depths of the lives of seemingly ordinary characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)