7 Amazing Female Friendships in Fiction

The Neapolitan Novels series, by Elena Ferrante
Speaking of names that are in the air these days, Elena Ferrante, guys! Over the past few years, as her later novels were translated into English, her star has just been rising higher, and for good reasons, such as her fantastic writing and fascinating exploration of complex minds and lives. But my favorite thing about Ferrante is her ability to write striking portraits of female psychology, particularly that surrounding female friendship. The best example of this is Elena and Lila, the central pair in her Neapolitan novels, which follow them from girlhood to late middle age in 1960s Naples. Ferrante memorably shows us both the inspiring, glorious side of having a brilliant best friend, as well as the less palatable underbelly of envy and competition that can arise. If you’ve ever had a long-term best friend and know just how much that experience can shape your life, you’ll recognize yourself here.

The Secret Place, by Tana French
Speaking of less palatable underbellies, Tana French’s The Secret Place is a memorably accurate exploration of teenage female friendship that has quite possibly gone horribly wrong. A teenage boy is found dead on the grounds of an all-girls’ prep school in Ireland, prompting an investigation with few leads—until one day someone anonymously posts “I know who killed him” on the school’s community bulletin board, known as the “secret place.” The detectives reopen the case and find themselves up against the psychological battlefield of high school girl cliques, frenemies, and social hierarchies, and all the secrets they hide. French paints a powerful picture of how deeply friendship matters to teenage girls, and does it with a depth of emotion sure to transport readers back to their own high school years.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein
A WWII story, this fascinating book focuses on the very active role two teens play in the conflict. Maddie is a pilot who sometimes drops agents and supplies into France to aid the resistance, and Julie? Well, she seems to do all sorts of things she doesn’t talk about, things that eventually deliver her into the hands of an SS officer who interrogates her for weeks on end. The novel opens with Julie in prison; as tells the story of her intense friendship with Maddie, we discover how everything came to be. Julie is one of those people you never forget—the kind who’s always in motion, always planning, always doing, and who hides damage and secrets you might never guess. Code Name Verity is one of those novels I just can’t say much more about until you’ve read it, so get to it! Trust me, this is a secret you want to be in on.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
The relationship between the sisters in this classic is usually what gets top billing (that is, if we’re not immediately talking about Darcy). And this makes sense. Between Lydia’s exploits, Mary’s preaching, Kitty’s slavish imitation, and Elizabeth and Jane’s quiet pact of sisterly sanity, all of these relationships give us something to talk about. However, what’s less often discussed is the one friendship not tied up in sisterhood: the one between Elizabeth and Charlotte. These ladies grew up together, and have clearly long been using each other as a rare sensible lifeline amid the nonsense of their families and neighbors. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes clear Elizabeth and Charlotte disagree on some fundamental principles of life, namely, love’s role in marriage. And yet, theirs is one of the few great examples of a friendship that manages to survive core differences and still end with both ladies rooting for each other.

Borrowed & Blue, by Emily Giffin
Giffin has written several books dealing with groups of friends making major life choices about marriage, children, and careers. But her gold standard remains the Something Borrowed/Something Blue duology (now a movie!), which explores the friendship of Darcy and Rachel, two women from Indiana who have been friends since elementary school. Darcy is blonde, beautiful, socially fearless, used to getting what she wants. Rachel is bookish, shy and awkward. But they show an incredible loyalty to each other—until the night something happens that tests the strength of their friendship and forces both to reexamine their relationship. These books are memorable not only for the capital-D Drama at their heart, but for being unafraid to dig into some uncomfortable issues about social status and the stories we tell ourselves to make our friendships work.

The Desperate Duchesses series, by Eloisa James
This series is an extended historical romance, set in the Regency era, about a bunch of women who all happen be married, engaged to, or running around with English dukes. So it sounds like this is going to be mostly about bodice-ripping sexytimes, heart-burning jealousy, and happy endings, right? Well, of course. (And what good fun it is, too!) But it’s also one of the few historical romance series I’ve come across that, in addition to the giggly fun times, ALSO insists upon the importance of female friendship. Although all the steamy romance you could want is in there, James never forgets to highlight that there are other relationships important to women’s lives, especially those they share with their female support systems.

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Yes, yes, these are sisters. I guess I’m cheating a little bit here. But how many of you have sisters who are your best friends? Or at the least your yardstick or pacing partner, who help you decide your life’s path? The lives of Amy, Jo, Beth, and Meg March (and their mother) are conducted in an almost entirely female universe. Jo, the fiery center of our novel, has particularly strong relationships with her sisters, and even initially rejects the idea of marriage in favor of the life she already has at home. Although of course the novel encompasses jealousy and anger and all the emotions you share with your nearest and dearest, ultimately it shows the strength that lies at the core of the best female friendships and how this can get us through the hard times when it seems nothing else can.
What other books do you love that feature awesome female friendships?