Friends and Lovers by Jackie Calhoun

Best-selling Jackie Calhoun is a premier chronicler of lesbian life in the 90s in all its rich complexity. Here's the story of Danny, her married friend Kara, her new friend Chris, the alluring Maureen, Maureen's ex-lover, Danny's ex-husband... etc.

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Danielle, the protagonist in 'Friends and Lovers,' seems to try to bring everyone down to her 'in-the-closet' level. Maybe it's because she's so busy bed hopping, she doesn't see that she does not love others, but rather needs/uses them to better understand herself. Danny also isn't sure who her 16-year-old daughter, Tracy, is. At times, Tracy comes off more mature than Danny. Danny also mistrusts her mother's capacity to understand Danny's lesbian nature. This is revealed at the end of the book when Danny's attraction to women is finally exposed, and the mother gives her a beautifully carved statue of a woman. With all the trials and tribulations that Danny experiences during her various capers with three different women, she chooses Kara, her best friend, who also brings the years that they have already shared between them.