New Release Spotlight: The Best of Friends

The Best of Friends
by Sara James and Ginger Mauney

Sara James’s and Ginger Mauney’s lives in The Best of Friends are at times so outrageous—spontaneously moving to the African bush with no more than $2,000 or reporting live from Iraq—that it’s hard to believe they’re real. Yet, witnessing these women’s journeys from back-to-back prom queens to trendsetters with little money and big dreams to renowned reporter and filmmaker, respectively, is inspiring and compelling to say the least.

Sara and Ginger were polar opposites when they were kids—one brainy, the other flirty. At a slumber party one night, they found their connection: the thirst for adventure and the fear of taking life for granted. But neither knew how far their friendship would go.

After high school, when Ginger loses herself in a man she thought would be her adventure but who turned out to be her heartbreaker and Sara is climbing the news channel ladder on her way to network television, Ginger looks to Sara’s independence for guidance. And the two jump into their mid-twenties with nights out on the town, guiltless dating, and ambitious job pitches. While Sara is getting settled in New York City, Gin hears an unexpected calling—to move to the African bush and make films.

Now on two continents with careers on opposite sides of the camera, Sara and Gin continue to support each other through broken relationships, job challenges, international travels, marriages, babies, war, and illness. While Gin nurtures a baby elephant back to health in Namibia, Sara reports on the conflict in Somalia. While Gin sells her films to National Geographic, Sara interviews Steven Irwin. And while Gin stares into a tiny TV screen to see the twin towers fall on the other side of the world, Sara watches ash descend on New York City.

The intertwining chapters of these awe-inspiring women break the frame of traditional friends down the street and juxtapose the city with the bush, art with news, and sweet with bitter. The characters come to life because they are life, and Sara and Gin invite us to share in their adventures and their friendship—the kind of adventures and friendship we should all hope to obtain in our lifetimes.

Review by Ali McCart, Indigo Editing, LLC

The Best of Friends

Publisher: William Morrow

ISBN: 978-0-06-077948-1

Hardcover, $24.95