Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah, 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.
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Reviews

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Lydia White@litty_lydi
4 stars
Aug 16, 2022

3.5-4 stars Initial review: I’ve been crying for the past 45 minutes 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 This was my first Kristin Hannah book, and I did enjoy it. The overall story of following these two best friends through time, even when their paths diverged, was great. 90% of the book I read via audiobook (finished with the eBook because I was DESPERATE) and hearing the story of these characters, versus simply reading, really elevated the experience for me. Parts that fell flat for me were the issues between Tully and Kate that could've been resolved, or worked on, by simply communicating with the other, more-so Kate to Tully. My biggest gripe was the lack of character development for some characters ... (view spoiler)[ Tully (hide spoiler)] But more on that below the spoiler cut. I've heard that this is one of Kristin Hannah's weaker books so I'm excited to continue reading through her catalogue as I can imagine it's only up from here. More specific thoughts below, major spoilers though . (view spoiler)[ Let's talk about the Tully problem. More importantly the fact that Tully does not change as a person, and I ended the book NOT liking Tully. Which is a problem considering she's the one who lives (?!). I do own the sequel, Fly Away, but I am genuinely not interested in reading it because I don't want to read about Tully ... throughout the book she continued her same selfish behaviour, even when being called out on it, and instead of owning up to, acknowledging her wrongs, and trying to be a better person, or at least a better friend, it took a call from her "best-friend" telling her she was dying to even make Tully consider apologizing. I do think there was so much potential for the character to grow, learn from her past mistakes, but the Tully we first meet is the same Tully we see to the bitter end. Kate being the one to die really just rubs salt in the wound for that one. There are some other smaller nit-picks but none that bothered me quite as much as Tully. After finishing the book I thought I'd try to Netflix series (although my bff did warn me) but within the opening when I realized Johnny and Kate were getting a divorce ... I was out. Their relationship was such an important pillar to this book, UGH. Why ruin a good thing? Although I will say it does make it seem like the show is doing better with making Tully a likeable character, so that's nice. (hide spoiler)]

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annie@annieswan
3 stars
Aug 13, 2022

3.5 stars — I didn’t like it as much of the other two books I’ve read by Kristin Hannah. Verrryyy different from the Netflix show, btw.

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Cara 🤍@cararicho31
3 stars
Nov 17, 2024
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Rachel Roy@rachelroy
3 stars
Nov 20, 2022
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Vanessa Arenas@varenas
5 stars
Oct 31, 2022
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Taylor Jones@taylorjones
4 stars
Aug 16, 2022
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Amber Brianne@bookbrianne
1 star
Aug 14, 2022
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Alex King@discoberry
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022