A remarkable, stirring novel, Birmingham Friends perfectly captures the complicated intimacy of female relationships.Anna has always been exceptionally close to her mother, Kate and as a child, was captivated by the stories her mother would tell of her childhood in Birmingham with her best friend, Olivia. Olivia and Kate seemed to have a magical friendship.But when Kate dies, she leaves her daughter a final story, one that this time tells the whole truth of her life with Olivia Kemp. As Anna reads, she is shocked to discover how little she really knew about the mother she felt so close to. With Kate\'s words of caution ringing in her head, she goes in search of the one woman who can answer urgent questions about her mother\'s life, and about her own . . .*Birmingham Friends was originally published as Kate and Olivia*