Next to Love

Babe, Grace and Millie have been best friends since their first day at kindergarten. Now they are newly married, and the men have gone to war. They thrive on letters from their absent sweethearts, and on the closeness they’ve always shared. And then, on a single morning in 1944, no fewer than sixteen telegrams arrive, bringing news of the worst kind from the War Department. For Babe, Grace and Millie, life will never be the same again. Each must face the challenges of the years ahead, the changes taking place in America and far closer to home, which are enough to test even the deepest of friendships and most hopeful of hearts . . . ‘Haunting and profoundly moving . . . Feldman’s characters live and love with breathtaking intensity’ Booklist ‘Intelligent, elegant and moving’ Guardian ‘A celebration of friendship, full of tragedy and hope’ ASOS magazine

Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, Scottsboro, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and Next To Love. She lives in New York City with her husband.