Between Friends: A Novel

by Linda Burgess

Meet Sally. The daughter of a small town dentist, she's artistic ... she and best friend Chrissie are working on their novels. They adore Cliff Richard and they're on the brink of Discovering Boys.
Meet Tessa, Sally's best friend at and since varsity. Together they iron the curls out of Sally's hair, throw a toga party and go waitressing in the summer holidays. Through good times and bad, their friendship endures.
And Daniel, Tessa's husband. A quiet, serious, Sensitive New Age Guy before his time.
This heart-warming, gently ironic novel takes you through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Palmerson North writer Linda Burgess holds a literary mirror up to the baby boom generation - Between Friends is as indigenous as hokey-pokey ice-cream.

178 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1994

About the author

Linda Burgess is a freelance writer, short story writer, script and television writer, novelist and reviewer. She was shortlisted for the Best First Book of Fiction in the 1995 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and was Writer in Residence at Massey University in 1997. Linda and her husband Robert live in Wellington.

Reviews

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think 2 and a half stars. There were bits I liked and bits that were just fair. I wish I'd read this just after it was written. I was at Massey when the author was there, but I was just about to quit doing my MA in Media Studies when she was 'Author in Residence'. I wish I'd done my MA in English Literature instead. I stood at the Crossroads when I finished my first degree (BA) in 1995, and picked the wrong road. Perhaps it's because I saw myself writing for film in some way, but my heart was definitely with words and I should have listened to that. I digress...this book has been on my 'Want to Read' list forever because of the author's involvement in that former Educational institute (where I also worked for four months in Student Loans late 1997 to early 1998). This intrigued me.
As to the book, I think it suffers from the progression of time, but I enjoyed references to things I knew of then too. Sally's daughter would have been closer to me in age than Sally herself, I was that girl wearing those black lace-up shoes with skirts, dresses and jeans. I wore the old paisley (mine was an old suit jacket of my father's, with paisley lining that I folded the sleeves of so the paisley was exposed), it was a great and cheap time to live).
Kiwi historical events flavour this book and I like that. I was too young to take part in the protests, but I can imagine I would have had I been older, and my father would have been anti me doing it (being somewhat of a Rugby-head).
I don't want to add in any spoilers but oh, in the end, like the characters themselves, I was left wanting, and wanting to know what was going to happen next. I've had to live with that kind of wanting for a long period in my life. So far I'm holding on and haven't given in to it, but who knows what could happen one day in the future...thanks for making me feel less alone...

[Philippa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiona Kidmanesque in style and subject matte. Well-written, light and simple, but no lasting impressions.