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Firefly Lane

Front Cover
95 Reviews
Macmillan, Feb 5, 2008 - Fiction - 479 pages

From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . .

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. 

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

  

What people are saying - Write a review

User ratings

5 stars
24
4 stars
6
3 stars
7
2 stars
31
1 star
27

But it is not simply the clumsy writing style. - Goodreads
There is little character development or change. - Goodreads
And the ending is terrible and depressing. - Goodreads
The plot plods along from one tired cliche to the next. - Goodreads
Also, the ending of the book is so trite and overdone. - Goodreads
The ending read like a cheap, saccharine ploy to me. - Goodreads

Review: Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane #1)

User Review  - Shannan - Goodreads

This first thing I thought when I began reading this book was "Beaches". Iris Rainer Dart walked us through a similar storyline back in the 80's (which subsequently became a movie), when a naive ... Read full review

Review: Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane #1)

User Review  - Golfmagic - Goodreads

Ugh. I have read three other Kristin Hannah books, which I have mostly loved (Magic Hour, True Colors, Night Road). This one, though, was pretty terrible. One hallmark of Hannah's work seems to be a ... Read full review

All 89 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
5
Section 3
15
Section 4
26
Section 5
38
Section 6
63
Section 7
76
Section 8
91
Section 20
240
Section 21
259
Section 22
274
Section 23
289
Section 24
301
Section 25
317
Section 26
330
Section 27
343

Section 9
105
Section 10
117
Section 11
130
Section 12
143
Section 13
158
Section 14
167
Section 15
179
Section 16
185
Section 17
203
Section 18
213
Section 19
229
Section 28
348
Section 29
358
Section 30
379
Section 31
394
Section 32
405
Section 33
422
Section 34
435
Section 35
448
Section 36
461
Section 37
472
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Kristin Hannah was born in Southern California in September 1960. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in an advertising agency and practiced law in Seattle. Hannah and her mom began writing a novel together when her mother was suffering from cancer. When her mother died, she put the draft away and continued to practice law. While pregnant with her son, and on bed rest, she took out the draft that she and her mother had written and began to write in earnest. Her draft was done by the time she gave birth. In 1990, she became a published writer and has been writing ever since. She has won numerous awards including the Golden Heart, the Maggie and 1996 National Reader's Choice award. In 2004 she won the Rita Award for Best Novel: Between Sisters. Her title Winter Garden made the New York Times Best Seller List for 2011. In 2012 Kristin Hannah made The New York Times Best Seller List with her titles Night Road, Home Again and Home Front.

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