Virago recommendations for International Friendship Day

An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of friendship, from the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend

'Deeply compelling' ROXANE GAY

A New York Times bestseller

A close friendship is one of the most important relationships a human life can contain. But most people don't talk about what it takes to stay close for the long haul.

Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book. Through interviews with friends and experts, they also come to understand that their struggles are not unique.

This book is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity, to actively choose them and sometimes, fight for them.

'A deeply funny and immensely heartfelt look into what makes a friendship last despite time, distance, trials and major life changes' ELLE

'An inspiration' ARIEL LEVY

'Wonderful' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

'Thoughtful and highly readable' New York Times

THE RACHEL INCIDENT - Caroline O'Donoghue's bestselling new novel* - is out now

Charlie's life isn't going forward - so she's decided to go back

After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry and experimenting with amateur pornography, Charlie and her best friend Laura take a trip to her familial home on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Her father's health is rapidly declining and this could be the last chance to connect with her roots. But events on the island cause Charlie to doubt her father's childhood stories - and then there's her complicated relationship with Laura. Pursuing the truth will shatter everything she thought knew - but is that what it takes to grow up?

'A gorgeous exploration of the messy and fragile nature of friendship and all the many forms of love' IRISH TIMES

'A darkly humorous, keenly observed blend of millennial drift and murder mystery from a razor-sharp writer' RED

'Witty, tender and insightful' GUARDIAN

'A perfect page-turner. I loved it' DOLLY ALDERTON

'Wonderful. Had me gripped' MARIAN KEYES

*The Rachel Incident was a #2 bestseller in Ireland in June 2023

A Washington Post Notable Book of 2017.

Deborah Tannen's bestselling You Just Don't Understand: Conversations Between Women and Men made us aware of the deep and subtle meanings behind the words we say. She has since explored the way we talk at work, in arguments, to our mothers and our daughters.

Now she turns to that most intense, precious and potential minefield: women's friendships.

Best friend, old friend, good friend, new friend, neighbour, fellow mother at the school gate, workplace confidante: women's friendships are crucial. A friend can be like a sister, daughter, mother, mentor, therapist or confessor. She can also be the source of pain and betrayal.

From casual chatting to intimate confiding, from talking about problems to sharing funny stories, there are patterns of communication and miscommunication that affect friendships. Tannen shows how even the best of friends - with the best intentions - can say the wrong thing, how the ways women friends talk can bring friends closer or pull them apart, but also how words can repair the damage done by words. She explains the power of women friends who show empathy and can just listen; how women use talk to connect - and to subtly compete; how fears of rejection can haunt friendships; how social media is reshaping relationships.

Exploring what it means to be friends, helping us hear what we are really saying, understanding how we connect to other people; this illuminating and validating book gets inside the language of one of most women's life essentials - female friendships.

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs' GRAHAM NORTON

'Delicious' SUNDAY TIMES 100 BEST SUMMER READS

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unravelling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

'Very, very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. Absolutely delightful' IRISH TIMES

'I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me' WHOOPI GOLDBERG

A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * A Financial Times 2018 Best Book: Critics Pick * A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 * A Bustle Best Fiction Book of 2018 * An NPR Best Book of 2018