Feeling Good – Nina Simone
THE FRIENDSHIP LIST opens with a wedding. At the tender age of 56, Kay has fallen wildly in love with gorgeous Australian, Murray. Kay’s adult son Edward offers to play the piano at the marriage ceremony, but unfortunately, he last had piano lessons in the late 1990s. His rendition of Kay’s favorite song – Feeling Good – would ‘bring Nina Simone to tears’, and not in a good way. The original recording, of course, is a thing of beauty.
First Shot Missed Him – Mississippi John Hurt
Kay’s new husband, Murray is big into old style Blues, and Kay finds that she likes some of this music herself. In particular, this lovely finger-picking track, which contains the strangely domestic line, ‘she cooked good biscuits, so they say,’ appeals to her.
You’ve Got A Friend – Carole King
The Friendship List is of course, at its core, a story about friends. Keeping them, letting them go, reuniting with them. When Rose, Kay’s dearest friend fails to turn up to Kay’s wedding, it starts a chain reaction that leads Kay into some strange situations to try to find out why. Has her oldest friendship really just run out of steam, or is there more to it?
Meet Me Where They Play The Blues – Mary Coughlan
The course of true love never did run smooth, and inevitably there are road bumps for Kay and Murray – some larger than others. This haunting, melancholy song sums up the bittersweet feelings Kay experiences: ‘I’m getting’ tired of sippin’ wine and watchin’ it bubble/ How did our dreams get out of line and wind up in trouble?’
The Ballad Of Mr Steak – Kishi Bashi
This one doesn’t have anything to do with the book directly, but it was a song I listened to a lot with my (late-teens) children during the writing of it. A couple of the songs they used to love when little are mentioned in the book – Baby Beluga and My Grandfather’s Clock – but as adults, listening to music together on car journeys, we all loved this one and had it on repeat. Lyrically mad – it’s about two steaks who fall in love (?!), but musically gorgeous, it makes me think of how relationships between children and parents shift and change as the children grow up. Which, now I think of it, is also reflected in the book, in particular with Kay and her daughter Stella, when she visits her in Naples and tries to help her with her own friendship difficulties.
THE FRIENDSHIP LIST by Beth Miller
Wiping away her tears, Kay looks at her old photos, of friends who have come and gone through life’s big moments. But then there’s Rose, her one constant through everything. Now Rose is missing. Does the key to finding her lie in their past?
It should have been the happiest day of Kay’s life. Getting married with her best friend and maid of honour, Rose at her side. But then Rose messages Kay moments before the ceremony, I’m so sorry. I can’t do this. Please don’t look for me. Kay is heartbroken. What could have possibly driven Rose to leave?
Kay doesn’t know a life without Rose in it. They’ve stuck together through thick and thin; getting each other through tough break-ups, the rollercoaster of children and losing Kay’s beloved mum.
Searching through a lifetime of belongings, desperate for clues, Kay finds a box of old photos. As she looks at pictures of them dancing with their friends from years ago, she suddenly wonders whether the key to finding Rose lies in their past. Writing down a list of long-lost friendships, Kay feels certain one of them will know what happened to Rose.
But as Kay begins to uncover a lifetime of memories to help her find her friend, will she also find herself?
An incredibly heartwarming and emotional novel for everyone who knows about holding on to true friendship through life’s big moments. Fans of Laura Pearson, Sally Page and Evie Woods will fall in love with this feel-good and moving story that shows it’s never too late for a second chance.
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About Beth Miller
I have been told that I write like a tall blonde, so that’s how I’d like you to picture me.
I’ve published seven novels. The most recent, out on 18th August, is ‘The Friendship List.’ I’ve also published two non-fiction books. I work as a book coach and creative writing tutor.
Before writing books, I did a lot of different jobs. I worked in schools, shops, offices, hospitals, students’ unions, basements, from home, in my car, and up a tree. OK, not up a tree. I’ve been a sexual health trainer, a journalist, a psychology lecturer, a PhD student, a lousy alcohol counsellor, and an inept audio-typist. I sold pens, bread, and condoms. Not in the same shop. I taught parents how to tell if their teenagers are taking drugs (clue: they act like teenagers), and taught teenagers how to put on condoms (clue: there won’t really be a cucumber). I taught rabbis how to tell if their teenagers are druggedly putting condoms on cucumbers.
Throughout this, I always wrote, and always drank a lot of tea. I’m now pretty much unbeatable at drinking tea.
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