The Fifth Letter: old friends, hidden betrayals and one dangerous secret
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3.8 • 301 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The top 10 bestseller now in B format!
How do you know if your friends actually like you? Four friends, five letters, one big secret. A 'pacey, circle-of-friends thriller, which accelerates in its intensity and sheer originality with every page' Australian Women's Weekly
Joni, Deb, Eden and Trina try to catch up once a year for a girls' getaway. Careers, husbands and babies have pulled these old high-school friends in different directions, and the closeness they once enjoyed is increasingly elusive. This year, in a bid to revive their intimacy they each share a secret in an anonymous letter. But the revelations are unnerving. Then a fifth letter is discovered, venting long-held grudges and murderous thoughts. But who was the author? And which of the friends should be worried?
The Fifth Letter is a searing examination of the bonds of women's friendship groups, the loyalty and honesty they demand, and the pain of ending relationships that once seemed essential but might be outgrown.
PRAISE FOR THE FIFTH LETTER
'A delightful, heartwarming exploration of the twists and turns of true friendship, The Fifth Letter was simply delicious from the very first page to the last. This is the kind of book I can't get enough of - relatable characters, a fast-moving plot and just the right amount of mystery. I was hooked!' Rachael Johns, author of The Art of Keeping Secrets
'Dramatic, mysterious and compelling ... it's easy to read this book in one sitting' Vogue
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Joni Camilleri, Deb Camden, Trina Chan, and Eden Chester are all Scorpios and have all been friends since high school in 1990s Australia. They've shared secrets and crushes, moves and heartaches. Now, in 2016, even though they're in their 30s and married, and all (but one) are mothers, they still somewhat reluctantly get together for an annual girls' getaway. This year Joni suggests they each write an anonymous letter telling the group a secret. As they read the letters, they learn that one of them is contemplating divorce, one hates being a parent, one confesses to having placed a baby for adoption, and one admits to lying to her friends. But as all the letters are shared, it turns out there are five, and whomever wrote the last letter hates one of the others. The meandering stories of these women are held together with the powerful question of who wrote the last letter, which reveals just how precarious childhood friendships are. The interspersed first-person confessions between Joni and her priest don't add much, but the majority of the book, told in alternating chapters of current scenes and flashbacks to 1993, adeptly exposes the striking differences among the four friends and the five letters.
Customer Reviews
Easy read
Something different and light reading.
The Fifth Letter
A savour my books as discerning reader. Roughly translated... I’m the “slow” reader, so I choose carefully. I was a little sad to see the end of this book... loved it!
Not my favourite
Not my favourite from Nicola, still such an amazing author and a beautiful author but this story line was a bit immature for my liking.