Firefly Lane – Kristin Hannah
On Mystic Lake Author’s Novel Examines Friendships
Tully and Kate meet as girls in 1974 and their unlikely friendship spans 30 years. Tully becomes a driven career woman; Kate an at home mom.
Kate Mularkey has never felt more alone. She has just started junior high school, and the best friends she enjoyed previously have suddenly decided they don’t like her. Her mother gives her a copy of the Hobbit, and Kate soon finds friendship between the pages of books rather than with the girls in school. That is, until Tully moves in across the street.
An Unlikely Friendship
Tully Hart is an unusual girl. After being raised by her grandparents while her mother, Cloud, followed her own bizarre and drug-laden path, she suddenly finds herself living with Cloud on Firefly Lane. Tully is the most beautiful and grown up girl Kate has ever met, and they soon become friends. Both feel like outsiders, but together they forge a strong friendship that lasts through college and beyond.
Differing Dreams
At the University of Washington in Seattle, Tully and Kate dream of their futures. They decide to major in broadcasting, which Tully excels at. Always the center of attention, Kate feels like beige cotton next to Tully’s candy apple red silk, and she finds herself fading into the background. She knows in her heart that broadcasting is not for her, that her aspirations are not as high as Tully’s, but she can’t find the strength to tell Tully, who lands a job at a local television station and immediately gets Kate a job there, too.
Instead, Kate dreams of settling down, of being a mom and having an ordinary life with a husband and a house in the suburbs, while larger than life Tully continues to dream big. Her star shines brightly, and she becomes a star reporter and later gets her own hour long television show.
A Single Act of Betrayal
Tully and Kate begin to drift apart; Tully lives in New York City and lives the celebrity life, while Kate is busy with her husband and three children. When she and her oldest, Marah, hits adolescence and they begin to fight, Tully tries to fix things for them, but just makes things worse. A sudden act of betrayal suddenly tests their decades long friendship, and Tully and Kate are forced to make some difficult decisions.
About the Author
Kristin Hannah is author of 16 novels, including On Mystic Lake, Angel Falls, Home Again, Summer Island, Distant Shores, Between Sisters, and The Things We Do for Love. She lives with her husband and son in the Pacific Northwest.
Hannah, Kristin
Firefly Lane
New York, St. Martin's Press, February 5, 2008
