Rose Tremain recently published her 16th novel, Absolutely and Forever. Though a story of romantic longing, the book is also about friendship. Here, Tremain reflects on the bonds that friends share.
When 15-year-old Marianne Clifford tells her parents that she is in love with 18-year-old Simon Hurst, her mother dismisses it as a schoolgirl crush and her father tells her that she is far too young for a boyfriend and should concentrate on her own life ‘as befits a girl of your age and upbringing’. It