To My Dearest Friends    by Patricia Volk Order:  USA  Can Knopf, 2007 (2007) Hardcover, e-Book Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Lori Waddington Alice Vogel's life is very orderly; she maintains daily to-do lists, and has kept all her date books from the last thirty-nine years. Nanny Wunderlich's life is not so orderly; she has difficulty finding her glasses and remembering what day it is. Alice is always well-dressed and wears minimal makeup. Nanny wears too much make-up and outdated clothes. The only thing these sixty-year-old women have in common is that their mutual best friend, Roberta 'Bobbie' Bloom, has just died of cancer. The first time that Alice and Nanny meet is at the office of Roberta's lawyer, where they are given a key to Bobbie's safe deposit box, along with specific instructions to open it together. Upon opening the box, Alice and Nanny discover that it contains a letter from a lover. Both women are shocked, as they always thought that Bobbie and her husband Jack were happily married. Nanny is convinced that Bobbie wants her two friends to find out more about this secret lover, while Alice thinks they should leave the matter alone. Thus begins a series of lunches between two very different women. Amidst sharing delightful stories of their late friend, they begin to form a very unlikely friendship. I highly recommend buying extra copies of To My Dearest Friends to give to the important women in your life. Patricia Volk has written a heartwarming tale of friendship that is not to be missed. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews