Product Description

Looking back, it seemed like paradise: livesfilled with the blessings of friendship, marriage, children, and career. For twenty years, four friends -- Chris, Barbara, Susan, and Vicki -- shared everything and faced the challenges of life and love head-on. Now, one sits alone to ponder the strange twists of fate and circumstance. Now, she must sift through the past to discover exactly what went wrong, how dreams turned to nightmares as friendships faded and lives were destroyed....

Joy Fielding unlocks the secrets hidden within even the closest relationships in a powerful and mesmerizing novel that explores the meaning of unconditional love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52673 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 560 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743407083
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Fielding (The First Time) takes a trip down memory lane in this romantic drama with a thriller twist at the end. Four women friends meet as young mothers living on Grand Avenue in an upscale Cincinnati suburb and, over the course of 23 years, collectively go through a whole range of human experience. In creating Chris, who's trapped in an abusive marriage, Fielding effectively captures the private terror of a woman psychologically and physically damaged by her husband. Vicki, the hotshot lawyer who cheats on her husband, is a workaholic mom whose family takes second place to corporate success. Susan embodies the modern mother who tries to do right by her family, but faces the challenge of a recalcitrant adolescent daughter and, later, sexual harassment on the job. Former beauty queen Barbara is a looks-obsessed woman whose devotion to countless plastic surgeries blinds her to the qualities that make a relationship work. With her usual page-turning flair, Fielding churns out a swiftly paced story that acquires real suspense when one of the characters meets a surprising fate and the meaning of friendship is put to the ultimate test. The tense denouement resolves into a tear-inducing finale, manna to Fielding's fans. 11-city author tour; teaser chapter to run in the mass market edition of The First Time.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Four young women who live on Cincinnati's Grand Avenue become fast friends after meeting in the neighborhood park. Twenty years later, their lives take on a very different flavor. Fielding (Missing Pieces) fully develops her four women characters, each of whom is exquisitely revealed. Barbara is a regal ex-beauty queen whose focus on her appearance exposes her inner emptiness. Vicki is intense and driven; her energy and savvy propel her legal career past those she has hurt along the way. Practical and steady Susan makes a career as a spokesperson against sexual harassment after unfairly losing her job. And Chris is on the fringe of the group because of a controlling husband who limits her contacts outside of the home. Chris's story offers a chilling look into the dynamics of spousal abuse, as the evolving friendships between the women take on the difficulties of their very different lives. The book turns upon Barbara's murder and the resulting involvement of the other three in a search for justice. Emotionally compelling reading that is hard to put down; highly recommended. Carol J. Bissett, New Braunfels P.L., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Chris, Barbara, Susan, and Vicki, all young mothers, meet at a local playground in the 1970s and become fast friends for the next 23 years. Chris, warm and funny, turns into a frightened specter as she deals with her husband's uncontrollable temper and quick fists. Barbara, a finalist in the Miss Ohio contest, becomes obsessed with plastic surgery as a way to deal with her husband's infidelity. Susan, practical and smart, is transformed into an icon for the feminist movement when she successfully sues her company on the grounds of sexual harassment. And Vicki, always a go-getter, makes a name for herself as a cutthroat lawyer but ends up sacrificing her friendships to her ambition. Fielding seems to have picked four hot women's topics and wrapped her characters around them, and yet, for all that, this novel is surprisingly effective. As the plot careens dangerously, veering from domestic violence to breast implants and back again, Fielding elevates her narrative with great, sweeping, surprisingly moving paragraphs devoted to the nature of friendship and family. Don't forget to keep a family-size box of Kleenex handy in preparation for the tear-jerking finale. Sure to please Fielding's many fans. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A Great Read
I started this book on a plane from Dallas to Los Angeles and continued reading to it's conclusion on a 15 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne--it was a great plane book ! I ran the gamut of emotions from terrible anger at an abusive husband, sympathy at some of the womens problems and joy at their closeness .It's an easy to read book, nicely written by a female who obviously enjoys a good relationship with other women. Don't want to give any of the plot away by going into details !

A real page-turner!
A group of reading buddies recommended this book in an online book club and since I was in the mood for something what I thought would be light and trivial ... I grabbed it at the library without a second thought. This book should have come with a warning. You cannot just put this book down to do chores or go to work. This book must be consumed in matter of hours because Fielding keeps you guessing throughout the whole book. Just when you think you have one of the characters figured out, you find another twist and turn.

A group of four women who live on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati formed deep friendships with one another over the years as their daughters grew up. There is Barbara, a former beauty queen, intent on keeping her marriage with her professor husband. There is Susan who was juggling college and motherhood. There was Chris who sacrificed everything to keep her family together while bowing to her husband's whims and maniac jealousy. There was Vicki, the superwoman who is also a top lawyer in Cincinnati. These women are very different from one another but the bond of attachment they have for one another is deep and solid ~~ till circumstances changed their lives.

This is a wonderful book about friendships between women and how despite everything it changes over the years. It is also a fast-paced novel ~~ best to be savored in one day. So I highly recommend you take the day off, turn the phone off the hook, lock the doors, send the kids to a babysitter ~~ and it'll be worth that couple of hours just to read this book. It is a fast-paced page-turner. One that I would read again! It's not a cheesy book either ~~ it is written with real emotion and passion.

So what are you waiting for? I wouldn't hesitate to pick this book up!

3/22/02

A wonderful book of women's friendships
This is the second book Joy Fielding has written that diverts from her usual suspense fare. The first, THE FIRST TIME was one of my favorite reads of 2000. With GRAND AVENUE she proves that her foray into women's fiction wasn't just a fluke. She joins the ranks of such authors as Barbara Delinsky, Kristin Hannah, Luanne Rice, and Patricia Gaffney as the one of the best the genre has to offer.

Living on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati, Barbara, Susan, Chris, and Vicki met over 20 years ago when their daughters were just toddlers. Calling themselves "The Grand Dames," they became fast friends over the years despite their varied personalities and occupations. A number of social issues are addressed as housewife Chris deals with an abusive spouse, former beauty queen Barbara deals with infertility, magazine editor Susan deals with sexual harassment in the workplace, and attorney Vicki's drive for success affects her marriage and family.

As the years go by, their friendship goes through changes as everyday life seems to get in the way. But when one of the four is threatened the other three are there for her. When tragedy strikes, friendship takes on a whole new meaning.

I literally could not put this book down, devouring it in one sitting, and finishing at 3 AM in the morning! I've read quite a few wonderful "women's friendship" books in the last couple years (those by Patricia Gaffney, Robyn Carr, Mary Alice Monroe to name a few) and this one is definitely in the same caliber as these other fine books. If you like books dealing with families, women's issues, and friendship, don't miss GRAND AVENUE. I highly recommend it.