Falling out with a close friend

Falling out with a close friend

Female friendship has always intrigued authors – it provides endless material because the bonds women share can be some of the most wonderful, supportive and rewarding. Women talk about virtually everything (sorry if it sounds sexist, but I don’t know many men who share in the same way) and not only do they know everything about their friends, but they don’t forget it. They check up on each other, they remember special occasions, they text just to say hello or to remind someone they care. 

But when women fall out, that previously supportive relationship can turn toxic. At the start of my new novel, His Other Woman, we meet Lucy, whose husband has disappeared after sending her a brief text asking her not to get in touch. Bewildered, upset and angry, Lucy convinces herself he must be having an affair. She’s right to worry, she does have a rival for Tom’s affections; but the other woman in his life is someone Lucy has known – and hated – for 20 years… his twin sister, Stella.

Without giving away too much of the plot, it’s safe to say Lucy and Stella were once good friends. They met at university and fell into the sort of easy relationship that might have lasted for the rest of their lives. Had it not been for Tom: the brother of one, the husband of the other. They both loved him, they both wanted to be the special person in his world.

In His Other Woman, Lucy was prepared to sacrifice her friendship with Stella because Tom mattered to her more. She was in love and deliriously happy. So what if her former friend wanted nothing more to do with her? She thought she didn’t need Stella, and at first she probably didn’t. But when friendships end suddenly and painfully, it’s rarely something that can be swept under the carpet and forgotten about.

Falling out with a good friend can be devastating. We invest so much in our friendships: in many ways our friends are more important to us than our lovers. There are many other issues tied up with relationships, but friends are always there for you. They will value you, appreciate you, understand you and – most importantly – good friends will have your back. Whether you’re stressed at work, full of resentment at your partner or having screaming rows with your teenagers, your friends will understand. They will drop everything to meet you in a crisis and let you rant, they’ll share stories of their own to reassure you you’re not alone in dealing with this, they’ll buy you wine and chocolate.

Friendships can falter for all sorts of reasons, but there is often someone else involved: it doesn’t have to be a man – although obviously that happens – but the main emotion that breaks up a good friendship is jealousy. One of you starts to do better at work than the other; one of you gets a new partner; one of you has children. The person who’s left behind may be surprised by how resentful they feel, ashamed of their own jealousy. But because that jealousy leads to insecurity, it’s hard to overcome. It’s much easier to let the friendship gradually fade away than to be the bigger person and admit you feel left behind. It’s easier to tell yourself you no longer need a certain person, than to admit how much it hurts to have lost them. 

As Lucy finds in His Other Woman, when you fall out with a good friend, it can overshadow the rest of your life. Even if you’re glad you didn’t stay in touch, you may feel guilty about what you did, or betrayed by what they did to you. When you lose a friend, a little part of you dies, and you need to let yourself grieve for what has gone.

But sometimes, it isn’t possible to get a former close friend out of your life entirely – particularly if she’s your husband’s twin sister. 

 —

His Other Woman is published by Bloodhound Books on 19th May, and available as an e-book or paperback through Amazon.

Geni.us/HisOtherWoman1

Sarah Edghill worked as a journalist for many years, before turning to fiction. She has been short-listed in several short story and novel competitions and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, three (mostly grown-up) children and far too many animals. Her debut novel, A Thousand Tiny Disappointments was published in September 2021 and her second novel, His Other Woman, is now available on Amazon via geni.us/HisOtherWoman1

I @sarah.edghill 

T @Edghillsarah 

www.sarahedghill.com 

 

HIS OTHER WOMAN

Her husband is with another woman—but it’s not who she thinks it is, and the results may be more devastating than an affair . . .

Lucy’s husband has been missing for days while she tries to pretend to those around her, including her distracted teenagers, that everything is normal. In desperation she uses a phone app to track him—and discovers he’s with another woman.

As her life falls apart, Lucy realises nothing is as it seems. There is another woman in her husband’s life, but it’s someone she has known—and hated—for twenty years.

As the story unfolds, including in the national press, the family must pull together before lives are destroyed . . .

“Sarah Edghill knows how to pinpoint what goes on in families.” —Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry on A Thousand Tiny Disappointments

geni.us/HisOtherWoman1

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Category: On Writing