It chronicles all the changes we've gone through in telling Jillian and Lesley's stories. Parents, marriages, children, bad times, good times - they're all here. And through it all, their friendship endures.
The format is so very easy to read - Jillian and Lesley are likeable (for the most part) - neither one is perfect so it is very true to life.
If you grew up in the 50's - or have a best friend from childhood - or both!, this is a wonderful read!! You'll have to buy an extra copy for your friend cuz' its a keeper!
Jillian, the daughter of wealthy parents attended college while Lesley an unwanted child who forced her parents to marry repeated the same mistake as her own mother by having two children while still a teen. Yet from the Eisenhower through Desert Storm and the Clinton scandals they exchange first letters and later email as they describe what is happening to each of them during the various decades of the latter half of the twentieth century.
BETWEEN FRIENDS is an insightful look at five decades of America through the eyes of two friends living totally different lifestyles as the country goes about its changing business. The story line is an excellent look at the times starting with their childhood during the I like Ike decade to their teen years hindered by Nam and Watergate and finally to the naughty adult era of the eighties and nineties. Lesley and Jillian constantly communicate the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". These two wonderful female characters empower readers to see Debbie Macomber at her best as the dynamic author provides a powerful look at the American half century reminiscent of Billy Joel's tune, We Didn't Start the Fire, but with much more depth.
Harriet Klausner