Terrific new Volk: For those who've happily followed Patricia Volk's books, stories, articles over the years, this novel will be a treat because I think it's the best thing she's done. And if you aren't one of those people, this one can make a fan out of you.

It's got the dancing, jiving prose and the echt-New York atmosphere of her last book, the memoir STUFFED, but now she's got a cast of characters she can get deeper into. And this one has a fascinating plot, a bit of a mystery in fact, that still leaves lots of room for ruminations on marriage, love, relationships, daughters, lovers, Manhattan apartments, and on and on.

I've always thought Volk's wisdom about people and their doings, especially within families, was buried but still there and still revealing. Among a number of things, this book has to do with what it really means to know somebody whom you consider a best friend---which is not what we tend to think it means. And it also has to do with the presence of the dead among the living, also not always what we think. Meanwhile I'm not a New Yorker, have never eaten at Bergdorf's, am not even a woman, but I find the sense of place and personality in this book to be compelling and strangely familiar.

Since it happens to be the beginning of summer I'll call this a truly great summer read.

A woman dying of cancer leaves instructions with her attorney for her two best friends (who hardly know one another) to open a safe deposit box together after her death. They find two copies of the same letter, an undated, unsigned billet doux from a lover they didn't know about. Just that. No note of explanation, no clue as to what they might be expected to "do about it". From there we get lovely vignettes (some of them hilarious, others poignant) of these two survivors as they try, separately and jointly, to decide what to make of the secret that has been revealed about their dear departed friend---and what it may suggest about their own lives. Quite delightful. Light, but touching. ( )

I love the way Volk writes. Love, love, love, love. She writes so well about love...not the romantic kind. All the other kinds: family, friends, life, work. Enjoyed very much. ( )

Thought provoking book. How well do we really know our dearest friends. Ms. Volk's humor is refreshing.

A cut above most womens fiction, Volk's novel is told in alternating narratives by Alice and Nanny, who were the best best friends of Roberta, recently deceased. Roberta left a letter in a safe deposit box and instructed her friends to open it. It reveals that Roberta had a lover, but that's it. Alice had known Roberta since childhood whle Nanny was a friend met in adulthood and but neither Alice or Nanny know each other prior to Roberta's death. The dilemma of the letter sets into motion changes in each woman's life. Volk switches voices seamlessly and injects the work with humor as well as delightful commentary on NYC, past and present. ( )