The Palm Reader

When someone from a friend group dies, the secrets do not die with her. Four women--Casey, Elle, Kathy, and Lauren--were barely adults when they met and became friends at Northwestern University. Their friendship grew over the four years they spent at college, and when their time together came to an end, they held on tight to their ties of love and sympathy.Casey, after a successful career as an artist, returned home to Cape May, New Jersey, where she met her partner, Alice. Kathy married a successful heart surgeon, Elle became a journalist, and Lauren went on to become a writer.Years pass, and the women find themselves in separate lives. In their forties, a request is made to return to Cape May for a week's vacation. This is not a trip the friends are looking forward to since they will have to endure spending time with Alice. Casey's BFFs share the same feelings of confusion: Why did Casey, who dated successful and interesting women, choose Alice as her life partner?Alice is not fond of Casey's BFFs. She thinks the women are shallow, snobby, and selfish. One friend in particular has caused Alice an enormous amount of pain.The ladies agree to the vacation. The encounter among the friends gets off to a rocky start, but as the week progresses, the BFFs discover they had misjudged Alice. The women find themselves enjoying their time together. And on the last day of the trip, for fun, they visit a palm reader.However, this becomes the beginning of a new era of their lives--an era of questioning themselves, their relationships, and the past. That same night, the palm reader's words unearth the locked-away secrets of their friendship.Lauren and Kathy find themselves in an unending rift which, in turn, harms Kathy's husband, Derek.Since the age of twelve, Elle had been plagued by a secret from her past--a secret she successfully kept hidden until now.Alice will reveal a secret that will divide the friends.An innocent palm reading will change the women's lives forever.BFFs forever or not?

-- Antoinette Zam