It was in the village school playground that Kit first laid eyes on Ara, and determined that they were to become each other’s best friend. Kit was ten, Ara two years older. If Kit was a scrawny little girl, quick and dynamic, Ara was large, slow and deliberate. If Kit’s ‘greatest joy was thinking and then putting thoughts into words,’ Ara was the silent, tactile one; given her instinctive rapport with animals, it was little wonder that Ara grew up to become a dog-trainer. As we follow the development of their friendship from childhood into their thirties, Kit pursues her voyage of self-discovery, quite unashamedly using Ara as a mirror to reflect her own weaknesses and phobias.
The Friendship is a deeply probing book about a girl reaching out, at once venturesome and self-protective, to those among whom she lives. It is a tale told with wit, charm, compassion and an uncanny psychological accuracy.
