Knopf | Authors | Patricia Volk's To My Dearest Friends


From the desk of....



What happens when you find out something you wish you didn't know? From the critically acclaimed author of Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family, To My Dearest Friends is a smart, generous novel about two New York City women, the bonds of friendship, and the power—and responsibility—of secrets.

Alice, the proprietor of a chic Madison Avenue resale shop, and Nanny, a Carnegie Hill real-estate broker, have never met before, but they have one thing in common: their best friend Roberta, who has just died of cancer. Roberta has trusted them with her last request—that together they open her safe-deposit box. What they discover inside compels two very different women to join forces on a journey neither really wants to take.

Wryly observed, and rich with the atmosphere of New York City—from the Gotham salad at Bergdorf's to the "Classic 6" apartment with OPW views (Other People's Windows)—To My Dearest Friends is a serious book that happens to be funny: a novel of real feeling and real life, about how what we hide from those we love can take us places we never imagined we'd go.

In the gallery below Patricia Volk shares with us some of the places and images that make To My Dearest Friends so richly evocative of New York City and of the world that its characters inhabit.

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Visit the gallery by clicking on any of the photos.