Fly Away

It's a while ago now since Maggie from BlackCountry Wench blog sent me Fly Away by Kristin Hannah. She'd just finished reading it herself and thought that I might like it. She hadn't realised at the time that it was the sequel to another book, Firefly Lane, but she enjoyed it as a standalone book nevertheless. I decided that before I read Fly Away, I'd borrow Firefly Lane from the library and read that first but I had to order it and it's taken such a long time for my name to reach the front of the queue. It was worth the wait though.

"In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the social food-chain at school. Then, to her amazement, the 'coolest girl in the world' moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be, but they make a pact to be best friends forever: by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

For thirty years Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship, jealousy, anger, hurt and resentment. Tully follows her ambition to find fame and success. Kate knows that all she wants is to fall in love and have a family but what she doesn't know is how being a wife and a mother will change her. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart and puts their courage and lifelong friendship to the ultimate test."

I loved this book, it's such a rollercoaster ride of friendship and you're carried along with the story of TullyandKate.

When I finished Firefly Lane I wanted to know what happened next and so the very next book I reached for was Fly Away.

"Celebrity news reporter and presenter Tully Hart has hit rock bottom. Kate Ryan had been her best friend for more than thirty years. They'd  lived, laughed, danced and cried together. Kate had been her anchor, and now Tully was cast adrift - not knowing how she was going to survive.

Kate's daughter, Marah, was only sixteen years old when her mother died. Consumed with guilt over the fights they'd had during the last months of Kate's life, Marah runs away and drops out of society - even withdrawing all contact with her family.

Tully's mother, Cloud, a child of the Sixties, has lived in a world of her own, dependent on drugs for most of her adult life. She now wants to prove that she can help her daughter. But what will it take for Tully to forgive?

And then something momentous happens which causes each one of them to realise what they've done, and what they have become."

Another fabulous book which answers a lot of questions left hanging from the first book and ties up all the loose ends.

To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy Fly Away when I started it, it just seemed different to Firefly Lane, the dynamics of it were different somehow but as the story unravelled I enjoyed it more and more. There's some great characters in the book, I didn't always like them, but by the end I understood them.

I'd definitely recommend both books. Read them in order, they're great stories.

I thought I'd just mention that Firefly Lane has been turned into a drama series on Netflix. After enjoying both these books I thought I'd give it a go. I managed to get half an hour in to the first episode before I turned it off, it was awful. Perhaps I should have watched longer, perhaps it would have got better, but after enjoying the books so much I just couldn't stand another minute longer. Have you watched the series? What did you think?