Friendship-that special bond based on trust and affection, understanding and devotionis the strongest connection between people. Even when the fire of romance and marriage dwindles, it is friendship that sustains.

A collection of contemporary and classic stories, essays, poems, and letters about this unique intimacy, Friendship looks at the relationship in all its forms: among children, between women and men, mothers and daughters, even between a man and his bike. From Anne Lamott to Walt Whitman, from Sark to Jack London, Friendship speaks of first friends, new friends, and old friends, of the devotion of friends who are family, of best friends, of companionship, and of the defining grace of all friendships-alliance.

This inspirational collection expresses the paradoxes and truths-things felt but often unspoken-between friends, Profound, entertaining, and eccentric, Friendship celebrates and embraces the stages and diversities of this golden bond.