Conversations with Friends : A Novel

336 pages | Trade Paperback An intimate, sharply intelligent debut about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple, now in paperbackFrances is 21 years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mind—and to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissa’s orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural evil—and Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in che