Loading
Book Information
Firefly Lane: A Novel
Written by Kristin Hannah
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Book Actions
Start ListeningDescription
In the summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all-beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn; Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.
So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the mainstay of their lives.
From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success…and loneliness.
All Kate really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her…how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend.…
For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship-jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart…and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.
Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you-and knows what has the power to hurt you…and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget…one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
Firefly Lane: A Novel
Written by Kristin Hannah
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Description
In the summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all-beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn; Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.
So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the mainstay of their lives.
From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success…and loneliness.
All Kate really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her…how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend.…
For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship-jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart…and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.
Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you-and knows what has the power to hurt you…and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget…one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.
About the author
KH![]()
Reviews
I had a really hard time putting this one down. I love Kate & Tully!
Rating: 5This book was about a friendship of two girls from youth through college and on. I found it a bit tedious, too much of the same story told over and over again, with just different setting throughout.Normally I like Kristin Hannah's books, this one fell short.
Rating: 3Overall I found this too depressing, melodramatic and frustrating. I also could have done without all the obvious references to the music and fashions of the different time periods. However the fact that the author could create such an emotional reaction from me is a testament to her writing skills. She certainly created two memorable and realistic main character in Katie and Tully--childhood best friends who make a pledge to never abandon one another. This is particularly important to Tully, whose only stable family member is her grandmother. As life moves on Tully--or Tullulah Hart--pursues fame and fortune in the journalistic world. She tries to pull Kate along with her, but Kate is more interested in domestic bliss and eventually wins the affections of a great man. However past secrets and destructive habits will push this friendship to the breaking point again and again. If you enjoy emotional roller coasters and stories about lifelong friends, give this one a go--but, I'm warning your, make sure you have some tissues handy.
Rating: 4Firefly Lane is the story of a friendship. Tallulah "Tully" Hart and Kate Mularkey meet when Tully's mom moves them into a house across the road from the Mularkey's farm. Tully has already been through a traumatic series of events in her relatively young life, events that Kate could not even imagine, so they are truly an unlikely pairing. It is yet another traumatic event that really seals the beginnings of their friendship, a friendship that lasts through all the decades that serve as the timeline of this touching story.I began this book having read two other books by Kristin Hannah and still not sure that Firefly Lane would be "my kind of book". I had this idea that Hannah's writing tended to be more of the romance type and even though some of that comes through at times, I really liked this book. One reason is that I related to the decades in which Kate and Tully grew and matured. I also went to high school in the 70's, college in the 80's, etc. So the cultural and pop references reverberated well for me. Another reason, and perhaps the more important one, is that the story of these two girls becoming women really caught and kept my attention and my heart. I really began to care about what happened to them. A good story does that to you. As I neared the 3/4 mark I was pretty sure of what was going to happen but I still wanted to continue reading. I do wish that there had been a little less of that formulaity in the book, but we all need a good cry every once in a while. Be sure to have some Kleenex on hand for the ending. It's a good cleansing cry, though.
Rating: 4I got this book on a special Amazon deal and started it twice and put it down. Recently was flying and this was on my Kindle. With no internet access I started reading. While the beginning starts out fluffy (the reason I stopped) once I got into the characters and the different paths their lives took them (stay at home Mom vs mega TV news personality) I found myself hooked. While a bit predictable, this was a well written story that makes me want to read more from the author.
Rating: 4A good read.
Rating: 4The story is touching and so does the author's writing style. A book that will stay with me.
Rating: 5I dont think I can read Kristin Hannah's books anymore, my emotions cant handle it!! This was a beautiful story between the love of a family and bestfriends. I cried from about halfway through all the way until the end!
Rating: 5Damn this book for making me cry the ugly cry! I had this book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years and never picked it up until a friend said I really needed to read it. And now I have no clue why I waited so long! It was really good! It's a story about the friendship between two women that stood together through the good and the bad over the span of their lives. Heartbreaking and wonderful! Will definitely be checking others by Kristin Hannah.
Rating: 5What more can I say that hasn't already been mentioned in the hundreds of previous reviews...not much, but thought I would say that as a child born in the mid 70's... this book caught my attention from the very beginning. I could relate to much of the events through the 80's, 90's and on, and every time I opened this book I wanted to pick up the phone and talk to my best friend who lives many, many miles away. The ending of this book haunted me way after I finished the last page, and I can't think of a single book that brought on the emotions I felt at the end.
This is definitely a book I will keep recommending again, and again, and again as it should be on the bookshelf of every woman that's ever been blessed with having a Tully, Kate, mom, or sis in their lives.
Rating: 5This is definitely a book I will keep recommending again, and again, and again as it should be on the bookshelf of every woman that's ever been blessed with having a Tully, Kate, mom, or sis in their lives.
Firefly Lane follows the lives of two friends from pre-teen to adult years. One friend is obsessed with fame and fortune. The other has more pedestrian dreams. These differences sometimes lead to conflicts in this overly long tale.
Rating: 3story of a friendship between two women that covers a liftetime. wasn't expecting such a sad ending. reminded me of beaches or summer sisters by judy blume.
Rating: 3Firefly Lane by Kristin HannahSometimes one just needs that good summer read and this was definitely that.Kate is a girl in Jr. High who is always on the outside of it all. She has no friends, gets great grades, reads The Lord of the Rings over and over & is quite lonely. She lives with her mom, dad & brother on Firefly Lane. There is a vacant house across the street and one day she sees that some people have moved in. At the bus stop she meets Tully for the first time. Tully is her age and at first glance they really don't seem to have a lot in common.Tully is tall, beautiful, has boobs already and is instantly popular at school with the girls & the boys. She ends up getting hurt by trying to be too cool and the only one to come to her rescue and defense is Kate. Thus begins the story of their forever friendship.The story goes through their high school years, their years at University of Washington and through their adult lives. Tully is all about the work, all about the career & while Kate wants a career she also wants to find love, happiness and settle down with a family. She had a wonderful example set for her by her family but Tully's father left before she was born and her mother is a doper who leaves Tully with her grandmother every couple of years to return for her four years later. And when the mother does have her, she doesn't parent her. She is too busy getting high to care what Tully does.I found this book to be a page turner. It's quite thick but once I began it I didn't want to put it down. It's happy, it's nostalgic, it's funny, it's romantic, it's sad & heartbreaking; it's all the things a woman looks for in a summer read. I enjoyed it tremendously and am looking forward to the sequel.
Rating: 4Firefly Lane was the breakout novel for Kristin Hannah. It was the first novel she wrote in an all-female point of view, and the book she says where she found her voice.It's 1974 and Kate Mularkey lives with her family in a Seattle suburb. She is not a popular eighth-grader, wears all the wrong things, gets picked on in school. All that changes when cool girl Tully moves in across the street with her hippie, drug-addicted mother.Tully is basically raising herself, trying to care for her mom and run a house on her own. She hides her mother from everyone, telling Kate her mom has cancer. Tully lives on the wild side, and one night things go too far and it is Kate who is there to help her cope.They become inseparable best friends forever, and everyone refers to them as one word-TullyandKate. Kate's mom finds out about Tully's mother's drug issues, and opens her home to Tully. She gives Tully the confidence to believe that she can have a bright future as a journalist, and Kate reluctantly is dragged into this plan.The girls go to college together, and while Tully is dogged in her pursuit of her dream, Kate dates and looks to balance school with a dating life. Tully lands a job with a small local television station and gets Kate a job there as well. Kate falls in love with Johnny, the boss, who only has eyes for the gorgeous, vibrant Tully.We follow Tully as she climbs the career ladder and Kate as she marries and raises her children. Their paths diverge, but they remain best friends, even though they have less in common.Tully becomes a media superstar, but she thinks of Kate's family as her own. She dates, but she is lonely. Kate is a great mom, but as her daughter Marah becomes a teenager, Marah rebels and puts Tully in the middle.Marah's rebelliousness leads to Tully making a big mistake and hurting Kate, destroying their friendship in the process. After years of estrangement, can Kate and Tully come together when they need it most?I was about the same age as Tully and Kate were in 1974, and so all of the references are a touchstone for me. The songs (Billy, Don't Be a Hero is now permanently stuck in my head), the TV shows (Luke and Laura's wedding on General Hospital), Tiger Beat magazine, the clothes and hairstyles- it all came rushing back to me as I read it. Any woman aged 45-50 or so will be transported back to her teen years reading this.The characters are interesting, and I especially loved Kate's mom, whom I suspect is based on Hannah's mother. She took in Tully and loved her, even when Tully did things that I found almost unforgivable, Kate's mom was there for Tully too.Besides the theme of friendship, we see how women dealt with issues of work versus family life and what that means to their identity. The difficulties of parenting teenagers will hit home with any parent, but I am curious to see how women who chose to have a demanding career view the character of Tully. Hannah writes a novel that has an ending that will emotionally devastate the reader, just like she did in Home Front. I don't know of any writer today who can make me cry as much as she does in her books. If you enjoy reading books that pack an emotional punch, Firefly Lane is a must-read.
Rating: 4Clearly this is not my kind of book. It was a best seller and I cannot fathom why. I found it trite, tedious, and eventually, terribly manipulative in a movie-disease kind of way. The characters were incredibly cliched, the "history" was a shallow rehash of slogans and consumer product nostalgia. I am mad at myself for wasting the hours to finish it, which I only did because I had agreed to review it. I do not await the forthcoming sequel.
Rating: 1This was my first foray into women's fiction, and I have to admit, this book had me hooked. If you're looking for a quintessential example of contemporary women's fiction, you honestly can't go wrong with this title.The book tells the story of Tully and Kate, two girls who become best friends during the summer of 1974, and then follows the trajectory of their lives and their friendship through high school, college, careers, motherhood, and all of the pitfalls and triumphs that come with lifelong friendship. Tully and Kate are practically opposites when they become friends for the first time. Tully, whose mother is an unstable and infrequent presence in her life, wants everything the world has to offer and then some. She's never met a challenge she won't try, and her life's ambition is to become a world famous reporter. Kate comes from a loving, stable home, yet shies away from confrontation and rejection, believing that she's safer if she doesn't stick her neck out too far. Tully instantly becomes the most popular girl in their middle school, while Kate is seen as a fourteen-year-old wallflower. As they grow older, Tully becomes an ambitious reporter, while Kate favors a quieter, more domestic life.As is the case with most women's fiction, this is a primarily character-driven novel. While Tully and Kate experience a multitude of triumphs, frustrations, and tragedies in their lifetime, these events take a backseat to the women's friendship and how that friendship affects the trajectory of their lives. This was something that surprised me at first...there were certain events in the book that could have sustained an entire novel on their own, yet were glossed over in this particular story. But I quickly realized that this wasn't a negative quality of the book, just a necessary writing strategy for a story that covers over thirty years of its character's lives.In terms of tone, Firefly Lane is everything you'd expect from the book description - heartwarming, nostalgic, cozy, bittersweet, and ultimately heartbreaking. As a side note, I would like to give a definite heads up that the last 75 pages of the book are incredibly sad. Granted, I've been known to break down during TV commercials, but this book still qualifies as a tearjerker. If I'm being completely honest, if I hadn't been reading this book for my readers advisory work, I don't know that I would have picked it up on my own. In general, I avoid tearjerker endings like other people avoid horror. But having said that, I'm glad I read this book. It was a cozy affirmation of the importance of friendship in our lives, and if you're looking for a heartwarming read (and don't mind a good cry), I highly recommend this book. Just make sure to have a box of Kleenex handy first.Recommended for: readers who enjoy feel-good stories about love and friendship, coming-of-age stories, nostalgia, character-driven stories. Most (if not all of the readers) for this type of book will be female.Readalikes: Barbara Delinsky. Both authors write about small-town women working to resolve the everyday issues of their lives. Both authors also originally come from a background in writing romance, so expect elements of that nature to crop up in their novels.Luanne Rice. Her themes and values, particularly in terms of coming home and the importance of family, are mirrored in Kristin Hannah's books.Nicholas Sparks. He may not write solely about women's issues, but his novels are character-centered, feature men and women working to resolve relationship issues, and are guaranteed to have emotional endings.
Rating: 3What a wonderful story. Tully and Kate growing up as teen's in the 70's and remaining friends throughout the story through current time. This book makes you think about friends a bit more, and how we are as human's. Do you relate with Tully or Kate, that type of thing. I couldn't put the book down, and even thought of it a bit after I had set it down. I even tried to explain it to my hubby! Definetly worth reading and I do recommend it to my friends.
Rating: 5Although romance was in the background, I was really drawn into this story about friendship between Katie and Tully that spanned thirty years as they made different life choices. I could identify with so many aspects of this story knowing every song and as typical of her books I cried at the touching ending.
Rating: 5This book did very little for me. I read it, and I finished it, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's certainly not a cheery read! I didn't connect with either of the main characters. Tully was so selfish and self-centered that I wanted to slap her through most of the book - I know, her background made her what she was, but why in the world did Kate keep her as a friend? Then Kate - just too whiny for me. The ending just stinks. That's all I have to say about this one. It's going into the donation pile.
Rating: 2This was a really amazing book. I read it in about 2 days because I had a hard time putting it down. This book is about Kate and Tully who become friends in high school and goes through the up and downs of their friendship and lives over about 3 decades or so. The characters are very well evolved and didn't leave me asking questions about their personalities or motives towards certain actions taken. The story and plot are great. I don't think there was a single thing I didn't like about this book. Like I said before I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it for women of all ages because the story is one of those that we can relate to. The highs and lows of friendship are no stranger to anyone. I would have to say the main theme of this book is that real friendship endures anything whether it be fights about boys, regular drama, or tragedies that unexpectedly happen in life. Firefly Lane is a great book that had me laughing and crying throughout.
Rating: 5How do we define "romance"? To me the essential elements are a lack of realism (perhaps including a setting that very few of us are likely to personally experience; people who are too good to be true), and a happily-ever-after ending (or at least a suggestion of its likelihood). I don't know about the ending yet - I'm only about half way through. But there's a distinct whiff of romance in the air so far. The characters tend to be stereotypes rather than people I expect to meet in my normal day (but my life _is_ particularly dull!). However, despite this comment, I have no intention of giving up...and I do get emotionally involved. Partly it holds my interest because the events take place in times that I remember clearly. The world she describes was the world I lived through. My experience of this book reminds me somewhat of my involvement with another quasi-romance book: Barbara Delinsky's "Lake News", over which I shed many tears. I guess I'm a girly sort of bloke at heart. Maybe I'll add more when I finish the book - perhaps Hannah will surprise me!Addendum: No surprizes...yeah, it's "romance"...too unrealistic to get more than 3 stars from me.
Rating: 3Touching, moving, heartwarming book about friendship
Rating: 5Wow, this is the first book I have read by Kristin and I truly and throughly enjoyed every word. For me this was a paged turner that grabbed my attention from word one through the end of the book. So many times I felt like I was just pulled in to the time and era that she was writing about. The friendship between Tully and Kate starts in 1970's and takes you right on through to the end though each era for 30 some odd years. Through their good and bad times, love, success, marriage, children and so on. I would highly recommend this book.
Rating: 5In a genre that requires a touch of genius to deliver a compelling read, Kristin Hannah makes an admirable attempt but falls short of the mark. A story that's been told before - in far fewer than 479 oversized pages - combined with a slew of sub-stories that never truly get addressed or resolved in typical chick lit style, this one's saving grace was the middle-school-aged reading level, which made it easy to fly through.
Rating: 2A tearjerker at times, and compelling, but I felt a bit as though the growth that we should have seen wasn't there. But by the same token, sometimes that's the way life is - people should grow and learn and change, and they don't.
I felt that Kate had more growth than Tully did - Tully especially seemed to always be looking for something more, and even at the end I wasn't sure if she'd really learned anything.
It's good enough that it drew me in, but thinking back on it, I would have liked more - to be drawn into why and how certain things happened. Like how Johnny fell in love with Kate, when Tully seems to be more his type - of course, I always got the feeling that Tully just wanted Johnny because the life that he gave Kate was the one thing that she didn't have. But how did Johnny fall in love with Kate? What sustained their marriage? We're told that he loves her, but not shown.
At the end I was left with the niggling question of whether or not Johnny would go to Tully - he told Kate he wouldn't, but I wasn't so sure. I would have liked to feel more certain of that, since their love was so deep. We were told over and over that he'd never do that to Kate, but we never hear why.
The ending made me cry, with its unfairness - there are glimmers of the hope that maybe Tully will learn and change, but I would have liked to be more certain of that.
Still, an enjoyable read.
Rating: 3I felt that Kate had more growth than Tully did - Tully especially seemed to always be looking for something more, and even at the end I wasn't sure if she'd really learned anything.
It's good enough that it drew me in, but thinking back on it, I would have liked more - to be drawn into why and how certain things happened. Like how Johnny fell in love with Kate, when Tully seems to be more his type - of course, I always got the feeling that Tully just wanted Johnny because the life that he gave Kate was the one thing that she didn't have. But how did Johnny fall in love with Kate? What sustained their marriage? We're told that he loves her, but not shown.
At the end I was left with the niggling question of whether or not Johnny would go to Tully - he told Kate he wouldn't, but I wasn't so sure. I would have liked to feel more certain of that, since their love was so deep. We were told over and over that he'd never do that to Kate, but we never hear why.
The ending made me cry, with its unfairness - there are glimmers of the hope that maybe Tully will learn and change, but I would have liked to be more certain of that.
Still, an enjoyable read.
Takes you on a beautiful journey through the lives of two best friends. I liked the rating. Would have given it a 5 but there was something missing. But it is still a good book!
Rating: 4A wonderful tale of friendship through the ages. When Katie and Tully meet in the 1970s they are both teenagers and in desperate need of a friend. Katie has lost her two close friends in the course of growing up and has found herself to be desperately lonely. Tully has lived with her grandparents (due to her mother's abandonment of her) and has just moved into the area. Both find each other at the moment in there lives when they both need what the other has to offer. Together on Firefly Lane they agree to be best friends forever. Firefly Lane is the story of their friendship, its ups and its downs as the decades pass. It is a heartwarming story of hope, love, dreams and support.
Kristin Hannah's writing places her readers into the decade and directly into the middle of this friendship. We experience firsthand the highs and lows - and both cheer and cry at their accomplishments and life experiences. A wonderful heartwarming novel that will go by very quickly.
Rating: 4Kristin Hannah's writing places her readers into the decade and directly into the middle of this friendship. We experience firsthand the highs and lows - and both cheer and cry at their accomplishments and life experiences. A wonderful heartwarming novel that will go by very quickly.
The story chronicles the life of two best friends. Kate is a more reserved and studious teenager, and Tully is a social and damaged teen who is a bit wild and internally lonely and insecure. They become fast friends, and the story unfolds as they grow up, attend college, have various relationships, and continue to be friends. I actually had a bit of trouble understanding the loyalty they had to each other, when Tully repeatedly does things that are quite self-centered and Kate is overly accepting of it. I was mostly irritated at Tully and annoyed that Kate let herself be walked over so many times. Anyway, this is ultimately about friendship and finding satisfaction in life and it might ring true to others who have had that kind of life-long friendship. I immediately read Fly Away, the sequel to this one, that follows the families and the children from Firefly Lane, picking up where the other book ended. I liked that book a bit more, as the reactions and behaviors of the characters seemed more believable to me. So, this was a good escape book to read while I was traveling. I will probably read more of her books.
Rating: 4A predictable beach book with cookie-cutter characters and somewhat weak plotting. Tully and Kate are life-long friends with little in common but their teenage angst (which continues throughout their entire lives). Manipulative ending.
Rating: 2Awesome! Get out your tissues!
Rating: 4