Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls? Who - or what - could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness?" "Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been? Why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead end - a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household." "In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?"--BOOK JACKET.

The marriage of Ted and Elinor Mackey, a podiatrist-lawyer couple in their early-40s living in Northern California, is pushed to the brink when Elinor learns that Ted is having an affair with his trainer, Gina Ellison. Infertility problems have caused years of emotional turmoil. And Gina's no bimbo: she has a loving but difficult relationship with Ted, complicated further by her young son, Toby, and his immediate attachment to Ted as a stable father figure. When Elinor confronts Ted and Gina, Ted quickly ends the affair; neither is sure if infidelity or infertility should end their marriage. During their separation, Elinor takes a sabbatical from her law firm and casually dates Noah Orch, a hunky but dull arborist. Ted resumes his relationship with Gina. As he realizes that his connection to her is stronger than he thought, all concerned have decisions to make.

This book left me with confused feelings about all involved. I certainly had a hard time choosing sides.

Started: January 3, 2007
Finished: January 7, 2007

Lolly Winston is a wonderful story teller. After reading Good Grief, I decided to find other books by this author. She truly makes the story come alive and provokes the reader to feel an array of emotions for all the characters in the book. I found myself choking up during certain points in the story. I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes to read tear jerker stories. I would also recommend Good Grief which sticks to Winston's pattern of examining the nature of human life, and how it is affected by things that are out of our control.

I am currently reading The Friendship Test by Elizabeth Noble.

The Friendship Test
Elizabeth Noble
Chic Lit
437 pages

One late wine- and gossip-fueled night, four friends on a lark create a fateful test of friendship -- one that challenges the very principles and boundaries of their alliance. To pass it means to never, at any cost, betray one another. Twenty years later, they must face that ultimate test.

We meet them at the dawn of their camaraderie in the 1980s and already each woman is distinguished from the other: Tamsin, the compassionate mother hen; Reagan, the brazen and clever overachiever; Sarah, the seemingly perfect beauty; and Freddie, who despite being far from her U.S. home, finds strength in her friends. We forward to today, and as promised they are still firm friends . . . that is until a crisis occurs and the principles that define their friendship test are challenged. Exquisitely rendered by Elizabeth Noble, The Friendship Test is a powerful testament to the depth and capacity of female relationships.