Book Description
Relatives are the family we are born with, but friends
are the family we choose. Friendship brings extraordinary
comfort and joy to our lives--and best friends go a step
further. They are there not only to celebrate our happiness,
but to cushion our pain. What is it that inspires everyday
friends to forge a lasting connection and become best
friends?
Sharon J. Wohlmuth and Carol Saline, the bestselling
authors of Sisters and Mothers and Daughters,
capture the essence of the ties that bind these "chosen
families" together. In this beautiful collection of
essays and photographs, Saline and Wohlmuth survey friends
from a broad range of American life.
As the voices and perspectives of these men and women
mingle, echo and occasionally differ with one another, we
discover how friends meet, how they sometimes fight, how they
reconcile, and what keeps them close. Jennifer Aniston, Kevin
Bacon, Angela Bassett, Naomi Judd, Larry King, Patti LaBelle,
Andrea Mitchell, Morrie Schwartz, Kerri Strug, and Gay Talese
share their relationships with people who would love them
even if they weren't famous. Many lesser-known but equally
inspiring friendships are included as well: three gorgeous
sisters who share everything from their apartment to their
careers as classical chamber musicians, an affluent novelist
whose best friend is a nun living under a vow of poverty, two
Holocaust survivors who built their friendship in the Nazi
death camps and rekindled it when they accidentally met on a
street in Boston, and five octogenarians who grew up as best
buddies and have never lost their intimate attachment.
Best Friends illustrates more than just the good
fortune of the people in its pages; it reveals the power,
dignity and variety of the precious bonds we develop and
maintain throughout our lives.
Sharon J. Wohlmuth is a Pulitzer Prizewinning
photojournalist and lecturer who has covered national and
international assignments for the Philadelphia Inquirer
since 1978. Her previous books are Mothers and Daughters
and Sisters. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband,
Lawrence Teacher.
Carol Saline is a National Magazine Awardwinning
journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker. A senior writer
at Philadelphia magazine and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate
of Syracuse University, she lives in Philadelphia. Her
previous books include Straight Talk, Dr. Snow, Sisters,
and Mothers and Daughters.
