Skip to content
The Friend: Virago 50th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
  • The Friend: Virago 50th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
zoom

The Friend: Virago 50th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

(author)
1 Review Sign in to write a review
£9.99
Paperback 224 Pages
Published: 15/06/2023
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • 10+ in stock

Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • This item has been added to your basket

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog - now in a stunning new edition as part of Virago's 50th anniversary Five Gold Reads series

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs' GRAHAM NORTON

'Delicious' SUNDAY TIMES 100 BEST SUMMER READS

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unravelling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

'Very, very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. Absolutely delightful' IRISH TIMES

'I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me' WHOOPI GOLDBERG

A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * A Financial Times 2018 Best Book: Critics Pick * A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 * A Bustle Best Fiction Book of 2018 * An NPR Best Book of 2018

Celebrating five decades of the feminist publisher, each of the Five Gold Reads represents an iconic moment in Virago's history, from the 1970s to today.

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349018133
Number of pages: 224
Weight: 208 g
Dimensions: 194 x 126 x 24 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year - Financial Times

A beautiful book . . . crammed with a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love - Wall Street Journal

Very very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. In short, absolutely delightful. - Irish Times

Delicious . . . An intensely pleasurable read because it is so accessible, capacious and clever - Sunday Times

A pitch-perfect novel . . . Wry and moving, The Friend is a love story, a mania story and a recovery story - Vanity Fair

Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs - Graham Norton

A sneaky gut punch of a novel . . . a consummate example of the human-animal tale - Harper's Magazine

The book is an intimate, beautiful thing, deceptively slight at around 200 pages, but humming with insight . . . [an] artfully discursive meditation on friendship, love, death, solitude, canine companionship and the life of an aging writer in New York .. peppered with wry observations - The Economist

I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me - The View

A poignant reflection on loss and companionship - Marie Claire

Often as funny as it is thoughtful, The Friend is an elegant meditation on grief, friendship, healing, and the bonds between humans and dogs - Buzzfeed

An elegant and darkly humorous meditation on grief and companionship, it's a great read - whether or not you're obsessed with canines - Shondaland.com

Charming . . . the comedy here writes itself . . . The snap of her sentences sometimes puts me in mind of Rachel Cusk - New York Times

The contemplation of writing and the loss of integrity in our literary life form the heart of the novel . . . Nunez's prose itself comforts us. Her confident and direct style uplifts - the music in her sentences, her deep and varied intelligence. She addresses important ideas unpretentiously and offers wisdom for any aspiring writer who, as the narrator fears, may never know this dear, intelligent friend - or this world that is dying. But is it dying? Perhaps. But with The Friend, Nunez provides evidence that, for now, it survives - New York Times Book Review

In crystalline prose, Nunez creates an impressively controlled portrait of the 'exhaustion of mourning' - New Yorker

Astonishingly fresh and tinged with sadness . . . a highly entertaining, uplifting book exploring the magical bond between humans and canines. A must-read for dog-lovers - The Lady

She has a wry compassion, and an eye for the kind of detail only grown-ups can catch. The books feel lived-in rather than hard-earned, the voice is smart and kind - Anne Enright, The Times

After suffering the loss of an old friend and adopting his Great Dane, the book's heroine muses on death, friendship, and the gifts and burdens of a literary life. Out of these fragments a philosophy of grief springs like a rabbit out of a hat; Nunez is a magician - Ada Calhoun, author of ALSO A POET: FRANK O'HARA, MY FATHER, AND ME

The Friend is a perfect novel about the size of grief and love, and like the dog at the book's center, the book takes up more space than you expect. It's my favorite kind of masterpiece - one you can put into anyone's hand - Emma Straub, author of THIS TIME TOMORROW

You may also be interested in...

The List of Suspicious Things
Added to basket
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Added to basket
Yellowface
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
The Last Devil To Die
Added to basket
Orbital
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99
The Vegetarian
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99
The Bee Sting
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
Killing Time
Added to basket
Hardback
£10.00
Glorious Exploits
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
Blue Sisters
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
The Handmaid's Tale
Added to basket
The Housemaid
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Added to basket
The Devils
Added to basket
Hardback
£25.00
Small Things Like These
Added to basket
The Wizard of the Kremlin
Added to basket

“A Doggone Clever Piece of Literary Fiction”

'The Friend' is the sort of novel which resists categorisation. The form and narrative voice makes it read like a disjointed series of undated journal entries, all of which are addressed directly to “you”,... More

Paperback edition
4 similar books recommended
Helpful? Upvote 38

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.