The Friendship Test

October 31, 2005
Noble (The Reading Group
) spins another compulsively readable yarn, guided by the cozily familiar conceit of lifelong friendship taking root among vastly different gals. This fab four, deftly rendered with a few pen strokes as distinct personalities—brassy American Freddie; doting, maternal Tasmin; beautiful, sensitive Sarah; and scholarly, serious Reagan—meet in Oxford in the '80s and nurse each other through heartache and calamity with soul-baring dish sessions and fervent avowals of friendship, calling themselves the Tenko Club. The divergent threads of their adult lives are destined to knot again in 2004, after Freddie suffers a double blow with her husband's affair and her estranged father's death. Her oldest friends rally to her cause, each in her own way—from caustic honesty to fierce protectiveness—though bouts of tragedy and betrayal threaten to unravel their bonds. The action spans England and America, with a sprawling, twisty plot that will appeal to readers in both places. Noble's tender wit depicts the love among friends as steadfast and magical as any romance. Breezy and heartwarming, the novel's beach-book disposition also makes for a cozy winter read. Agent, Stephanie Cabot.

March 1, 2006
Adult/High School -Freddie, Tamsin, Sarah, and Reagan met at Oxford and quickly forged a bond that continued through careers, marriages, and children. Fast-forward 18 years to the day that Freddie gets a double whammy: her husband tells her that he is seeing someone else and wants a divorce; hours later, her father -s housekeeper calls from America to break the news of his death. So begins a story of friendship that captivates readers from the outset. Certainly, it is formulaic in places: as Freddie tries to come to terms with jarring life changes, she finds herself depending more and more on Sarah -s widowed husband. But for the most part, Noble bestows enough imperfections in her characters and twists in the plot to take the story beyond typical romance fare. Readers will enjoy the appealing sketches of London, Cape Cod, and Boston as the friends travel across the Atlantic to help Freddie sort out the ramifications of her parent -s death. Noble -s second novel solidifies her reputation as a graceful and stylish writer with the ability to blend the humor and complexities of everyday friendships." -Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2005
Noble follows up " The Reading Group" (2005) with this tale of a quartet of girls who meet in their first year at Oxford University. Freddie is a party-loving American; Tamsin, overweight and shy, is fiercely protective of her friends; and Sarah and Reagan, chums from childhood, are opposites in all respects, with Sarah the embodiment of refined beauty and Reagan blunt and unabashedly ambitious. Twenty years after their meeting, Freddie faces a double-whammy life crisis when her husband calls to tell her he's having an affair and wants a divorce, and she learns that her estranged father has died. Freddie's trials test the women's friendship, as old hurts surface, and the group must do some deep soul-searching. Noble creates a group of endearing, realistic characters and, for the most part, steers clear of caricature (aside from Freddie's upper-crust husband). Despite falling down a bit on the voice of the American characters (who sound like a Brit's idea of what Americans sound like), the dialogue rings true, and the human drama will appeal to readers of high-end chick lit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)