I originally borrowed this from the library because it contained a Melina Marchetta short story ("The Centre"). However, I then realised that I recognised the names of at least a third of the contributors - because I've read some of their fiction, or their articles, or seen them on TV.

Just Between Us is a collection short stories, memoirs and personal essays. The subtitle says it's about "the truth about female friendship" but the book's focus is more specific: it's about when things go wrong between close friends. In the introduction, the editors write:
We [...] found that nearly every woman we spoke to had a story about a slow breakdown, or an unexpected break-up, of a relationship with a close female friend. We were both surprised and unsurprised: our own histories told us this should be the case, but the absence of these narratives in the storytelling of our culture - in film, television, and narrative media - had made us feel quite alone in the experience.

The result is an anthology that is compelling - fascinating, thought-provoking - but not always comfortable. Most of the pieces are about how and why a friendship ends. But the stories told are all very different - about different stages of life, about friendships that end for different reasons and about women who feel differently about that ending - grief, betrayal, guilt, apathy, relief, even peace.

There's also a focus on what the writers have learnt from these experiences - and the implication that these painful lessons have helped them in subsequent relationships - that means Just Between Us doesn't feel as bleak as it could.

I'm really glad I read this book.

We are surrounded by narratives that describe, and allow us to vicariously assimilate, the disintegration and fallout of a sexual relationship. Before we even enter into such a relationship ourselves, [we learn about them from fiction, family and friends]. We know the cultural script for this kind of tragedy already; the language of failed romance is strongly ingrained. But this is not the case when it comes to the loss of a friendship and the birth of an 'ex-best friend'.
from "The Complementary Principle" by Maya Linden ( )

It is most often the end of friendship that is explored in Just Between Us. In the editor’s introduction they share that the impetus for this book came from a discussion where they came to recognise the absence of stories about “a slow breakdown, or an unexpected break-up, of a relationship with a close female friend”, despite the universality of the experience.

Just Between Us then is a collection of both fiction and non fiction pieces about the “complexities of our…important female friendships; about their ongoing difficulties, their sudden complications, their endings” from twenty Australian women writers. Varying in tone from the confessional to the pragmatic, the lighthearted to the contemplative, some of these essays and short stories will resonate more strongly than others, but all offer a glimpse into the complicated intimacy of female friendship.

I have had friendships fade with time and distance as well as those that have ended abruptly for reasons I no longer remember, or never knew in the first place. Friendships that I have abandoned to protect myself, others for no good reason as all. To know that my experience is not unique, as illustrated in contributions like Jane Caro’s The Girl Who Got Smaller and Clementine Ford’s Girls Who Wear Gingham, is somehow reassuring. Of all twenty pieces, I found Nikki Gemmell’s non fiction contribution ‘What We Do’, particularly insightful, despite its simplicity.

Just Between Us is an honest and engaging anthology reflecting on the joys and sorrows of friendship. Share it with a friend. ( )