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| Categories | Genre Fiction |
| Author | Kristin Hannah |
| Publisher | St. Martin’s Griffin; First Edition (January 6, 2009) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 528 pages |
| Item Weight | 1.05 pounds |
| Dimensions |
5.45 x 1.35 x 8.25 inches |
I. Book introduction
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all―beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.
So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.
From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness.
Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .
For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship―jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.
Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you―and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.
Plot summary
Katie Mularkey and Tallulah “Tully” Hart are only in middle school when they meet on Firefly Lane in Snohomish, Washington. Tully is dealing with a drug-addicted, negligent mother who goes by the name Cloud, while Katie is trying to feel confident and make more friends. The two quickly become inseparable and share a close friendship their entire lives.
This friendship takes them through many ups and downs and remains strong even as they follow different paths in life. Katie gets married and has three children, while Tully pursues a career in journalism.
About Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an American writer. Her most notable works include Winter Garden, The Nightingale, Firefly Lane, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. In 2024, St. Martin’s Publishing Group published her novel, The Women, which is set in America in the 1960s.
Kristin Hannah was born in California. After graduating with a degree in communication from the University of Washington, Hannah worked at an advertising agency in Seattle. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound law school and practiced law in Seattle before becoming a full-time writer. Hannah wrote her first novel with her mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, but the book was never published.
Hannah’s best-selling work, The Nightingale, has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide and has been published in 45 languages.
Hannah lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and their son.
II. Reviewer: Firefly Lane
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1. CRUMB reviews for Firefly Lane
Oh.My.God. This book deserves more than five stars, in fact, it deserves every single star in the sky. This book was phenomenal. It tugged at my heart strings in the best of ways. I laughed and I cried.. Oh, how I cried.
You will need a box of tissues, handy!
This book is about friendship. Although, in my opinion, the word “friendship” doesn’t seem like a big enough word to encapsulate their relationship. They were simply: TullyandKate. Best friends forever.
This book began in the 1970’s and went straight through the Millenium. The reader was able to see both Tully and Kate come of age. Kate had everything Tully wanted: a family. And Tully, had everything Kate wanted: she was drop dead gorgeous and popular. While Tully wanted a family and Kate wanted to have Tully’s charm and good looks, as a duo, they were enough. They completed each other. They made each other whole
In my opinion, what makes a book great is character development. I like to go on a journey with the characters; I like to see them grow, come into their own. Kristen Hannah gave that to me, and more. I also value characters that I can relate to. When I was in high school, I could easily see Kate and Tully walking arm-in-arm down the hallway. In college, I could visualize them walking across my campus.
This book made my heart sing and it made my heart ache.. and yet at the end, I wanted more. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Thankfully, there is a sequel. Thank you Ms. Hannah!
2. KIM reviews for Firefly Lane
Speechless.. Wow…I loved this so much. ❤️ Kristin Hannah give me my heart back. She tore it out, shattered it into a million pieces and then stomped on it. Yet I can’t wait to come back for more with Fly Away!
What did I love about this book? Every single thing. I loved how the author captured that time in young adulthood when your BFF is your whole world. Where you do everything together and practically are one. This feeling was so real that I imagined myself as the third wheel with Tully and Kate biking down Firefly Lane way after curfew. You could just smell the air and the grass and it was so real.
Ahhhh…that music! All the songs that the chapters were titled after…I loved it! It was like a trip down memory lane. I found myself humming along as I flipped the pages. Every song I would say to myself, wow I forgot about that one but I loved it! You know how a song can take you back? Yes well it did!
This was my first book by this author. Her writing style literally blew me away. I now understand what all the hype is about. I can’t wait to continue on with this story with Fly Away. Thank you Susan for doing a buddy read with me! It was such a great book to chat with someone about.
3. BRANDICE reviews for Firefly Lane
I was not ready for Firefly Lane — I got sucked into this story immediately about two young girls, Kate and Tully, who form a lifelong friendship in the suburbs of Seattle in middle school. The story follows the girls as they move through high school, college, then beyond, into the working world as adults. They share some interests but forge increasingly different paths though their bond remains.
Like any strong relationship, Kate and Tully experience highs and lows — Joy, jealousy, resentment and forgiveness are all at play. After weathering several hurdles over many decades, one poor decision threatens to end their friendship for once and for all.
I liked Kate more than Tully but could relate to aspects of both of their lives and their feelings at various points in the book. I loved the theme of the importance of friendship and family.
4. ALWAYS POUTING reviews for Firefly Lane
This was the first Kristen Hannah book I read and it’s about two girls who become friends in middle school in the 70’s and it follows them through their lives. I really enjoyed the writing, I think Hannah is really good at telling stories because I kept wanting to read on. The characters were all complex and made the book feel real. The ending was not that great though and I can agree that some of the plot was derivative but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using things in your book that have been done if you do them well, which I think Hannah does.
5. KYMMLISA reviews for Firefly Lane
The Memories Came Rushing Back!
Leave it to Kristin Hannah to leave me laughing then crying all within the pages of one book, again! Firefly Lane was a trip down memory lane for me. I grew up and was the exact age Kate and Tully were in 1974, so the songs, the lingo, the clothes and the times were all my memories brought back to life. My thoughts and feelings were all over the place while I read this wonderful book. The seventies were a crazy, mixed up time to be a teen and Hannah brought it to life again brilliantly. I could almost feel the angst of my teen years all over again and the despair of not being old enough, but thinking I was so grown up!
Tully and Kate couldn’t be more different, but when Tully moves in across the street from Kate in 1974 Kate’s world will never be the same. Kate is not in the popular group, which as you know is a death sentence in middle school. Tully is new to town and she’s different, which makes her a novelty and an instant popular girl. Kate is curious and watches her house with wonder. One night purely by accident after a tragic event Tully runs into Kate and they strike up a conversation. Tully shares her traumatic incident with Kate and the bond of friendship is formed with the secret. They are now and forever best friends and become known as TullyandKate.
Kate’s mom is a typical stay at home mom who works hard to keep her children on the right path. She’s always doing what’s best for her children and worries Tully may be a bad influence on her daughter. Tully’s mom is an alcoholic and drug addict who barely knows her daughter exists. Tully has no relationship with her and is shuffled back and forth to her grandmother’s house whenever her mom decides to just leave, with no explanation. Tully is always hoping for more from her mom, but her mom doesn’t have the capacity to care. Kate’s family eventually rushes in to help Tully and opens up her world to what family really means.
The two girls, now women go their separate ways after college. Tully is all about her career in journalism and gaining fame and wealth, Kate on the other hand enjoys writing, but quietly wants love, marriage and children, not the most popular choice for women in the 80’s, but it is what it is. She begins working with Tully in the journalism field, but her heart is not in it. Tully goes on to become a national star in the news world and Kate settle down to become a wonderful wife and mother, with all the challenges and joys that brings.
This book really got to me. I don’t cry over books, until now. I saw myself so much in this book it was scary. I was a fourteen year old, as Tully and Kate were in 1974 when the world seemed so hard for a teen, when every decision seemed to be so big and came with such consequences that you second guessed every one. The songs Hannah mentioned, the foods she brought up and even the language the girls spoke were the ones I knew and spoke myself. I had a best friend that I got into “trouble” with, I drove my mother to distraction, I pushed every limit and I survived. I’m sorry to say I lost contact with my best friend after college, but this was part of the reason for my tears. I missed out on the rest of what could have been a lifetime of memories with her. I did reach out to her on FB after I read the book, still waiting to hear back. Another amazing part of the book, for me anyway is the unsung heroes, stay at home moms! If you’ve raised a teen daughter or are in the process of doing so, CONGRATULATIONS! When my daughter was a teen I was sure she was abducted by aliens and replaced with a being I did not know! It was the most challenging time of motherhood for me. I worked full time while raising children, but I admire women who choose to be full time moms, I couldn’t do it. It’s ten times harder than going to work everyday! They all deserve medals and hazard pay!
If you’ve ever had a best friend who has been there through thick and thin, has been your secret keeper, your dance partner, or even your therapist this one is for you. If you’ve raised a teen girl and think it’s just you or your daughter, this one’s for you. And if you want a book that will take you on a journey through every emotion you can feel, this one’s for you. It’s a masterpiece of love, friendship, family, hardship, redemption and hope and I loved every single word. I’ve loved Kristin Hannah for years and always find her books to be moving, with each one better than the last. This one really got to me and I can’t wait to read the sequel! It was so fitting that I finished it on the first day of the new year, it just seemed like the perfect look back on my memories to get a better understanding of why I am who I am in this time and I am reminded that I too was once a teenage girl who drove her mother nuts! Happy Reading!
6. LISA ORTIZ reviews for Firefly Lane
a rave review from a chick-lit hater
i have to be honest – i don’t like chick lit or chick flicks, and yet, here, i found myself really enjoying a book that was clearly written for and about girlfriends, mothers, and daughters. it was so blatantly girly, and in the most honest of ways, that i couldn’t turn away and just dismiss it like i normally would have.
on the surface, this is a book about two girls, Kate and Tully, who were worlds apart in background and personality, and yet both lonely and fragile in their …more i have to be honest – i don’t like chick lit or chick flicks, and yet, here, i found myself really enjoying a book that was clearly written for and about girlfriends, mothers, and daughters. it was so blatantly girly, and in the most honest of ways, that i couldn’t turn away and just dismiss it like i normally would have.
on the surface, this is a book about two girls, Kate and Tully, who were worlds apart in background and personality, and yet both lonely and fragile in their own ways. when Tully and her drug-addicted mom moved in across the street, they became TullyandKate, inseparably close.
Tully was beautiful, carefree and confident, but with the hidden conviction that she wasn’t good enough. that was the only seemingly reasonable explanation for why her mother couldn’t stick around for more than a couple months, forcing her back to her grandmothers home time and time again. at times childish, and always selfish, Tully’s character could definitely be irksome, but her drive and focus was so appreciable, that it was difficult to not like her at least some of the time.
Kate was a quiet, honest country girl with the perfect family, but with the average sort of looks that got her sidelined in the popularity contests of life. despite their friendship, she was constantly in the shadow of Tully, which served as a constant reminder that she wasn’t good enough. her character was naive, but persistent, with a firm belief in love and good things, and was instantly likable, despite her misgivings.
the two girls secretly envied each other and that ultimately brought them even closer together. through the decades, high school, onto college, jobs, boyfriends – no matter what life dished out, they stuck with their mantra to be there for each other, no matter what.
although the plot revolves around these two girls, the real beauty comes when Hannah takes time to reflect on their vastly differing relationships with their mothers, their careers, and eventually the men of their lives. she writes with a simplicity that many have criticized as lacking depth, but i didn’t find that to be true. granted, it isn’t a literary award winning book, but Hannah does write well. the honesty and emotion that exists between the characters is anything but shallow, and despite the fact that the girls-become-women never really outgrow some of their childish mannerisms, i wasn’t put off at all.
i’ve left a lot of details of this review to avoid spoilers, but there really is just so much beauty that happens between the two covers of this book that i would recommend it to any woman out there. just be sure to bring your tissue for this one.
“That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.”
7. BALTIC MERMAID reviews for Firefly Lane
A dynamic story with some heartfelt moments and a bright Hollywood movie feel
The book was interesting to read, with all kinds of twists and turns a story about everyday life should have. To some, such stories about mundane things seem boring, but to me, people’s lives are the most exciting thing to explore through books. Still, the characters’ actions and choices, the direction the plot takes after two main characters enter adulthood, kept causing frustration in me that I couldn’t suppress.
It isn’t that I couldn’t connect with the characters. I usually don’t need to like them to enjoy reading about them. The main issue for me was that they didn’t get any kind of closure. The author has hinted in a way that both main characters were happy with the choices they made in their lives. Alas, I didn’t feel it. Maybe – probably – it’s the problem of my personal perception.
In the centre of the plot, there are two women, Kate and Tully. They meet at the most vulnerable age of fourteen, absolutely different in everything, from their background to their level of popularity at school. And they become friends for life. I liked the portrait of their controversial friendship spanning over three decades. That’s how it often is in real life. Two gentle rosebuds of women rarely can stay interested in each other to stay friends for so long. Almost always, one is the leader, while the other one follows them, making certain sacrifices along the way.
The love triangle and how it played out at the end, is what hasn’t worked for me. Kate’s insecurities about her husband kept frustrating me rather than caused sympathy. And because this plot line dragged through the big part of the book, when it came to a heart-wrenching finale, I simply couldn’t automatically switch to the “and still, you’ve always been the only one whom I truly loved” idea. As I said, other readers might feel differently. But for me, it was like that.
I’m grateful to the author for showing how beautiful saying goodbye to your close one can be. The death of someone you love will always be the most painful experience in any person’s life. There will never be anything positive about it. But Kristin Hannah has drawn a picture of a perfect parting, the way it should be in modern society. We proclaim that human life is the most precious thing, the highest value. While in reality, death is treated with embarrassment, with most people averting their eyes and pretending that it’s nothing special, which makes the experience even more painful.
To sum up, the story of Tully and Kate, two women who chose different paths in their lives, is dynamic, with some heartfelt moments and a bright Hollywood movie feel.
8. EMMA reviews for Firefly Lane
when i was 11 years old, this was my favorite book on earth.
while other kids were checking out, like, middle grade adventure stories and the first examples of the coming era of young adult dystopian fiction, me and my best friend were addicted to this 479-paged women’s fiction hardcover that weighed approximately 12 pounds and followed the lives of two best friends from the 1970s to the present, including passages on sexual assault, underage drinking, drug use, addiction, eating disorders, cheating, betrayal, sex, parenting, violence, and so on and so forth.
why our moms were okay with us reading this i have no idea, but one thing is certain.
i had absolutely indefensible literary opinions then, and i continue to have them to this day.
i should reread this.
part of a series i’m doing in which i review books i read a long time ago and share any relevant epiphanies i may have
9. TOM LEWIS reviews for Firefly Lane
This was my third Kristin Hannah book after The Nightingale and The Great Alone, and once again she knocked it out of the ballpark. It’s one of the best stories about friendship I’ve ever read. While it’s not at the level of Nightingale (few books are), it’s a solid five star read. Now excuse me while I go reconnect with every friend I haven’t talked to in a while.
10. HOLLI reviews for Firefly Lane
I really and truly thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Thank you very much Lisa for letting me borrow this! What a great book. It began the year I was born and ended in present day and followed the lives of two best friends named Tully and Kate. I loved reliving the 70’s and 80’s and 90’s with them, all of the pop culture references made this a fun journey. The book is much more than just pop culture though as it follows two young girls who grow into wonderful women with very different personalities. Their lives separate and entwine over and over again through the years and the adventures that ensue and the memories they create with each other are priceless.
I really think the author hit the best friend/as close as a sister relationship two women can have on the head and I saw a lot of myself in Tully and a whole lot of my friend Brooke in Kate. I could identify with so much in this book and for that I truly loved it.
III. Firefly Lane Quotes
The best book quotes from Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
“That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours. ”
“That was what a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart.”
“To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down, but you can’t let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.”
“And before you barrel through some idiotic Cosmo girl list of how-well-do-you-know-your-man questions, let me say that I don’t know squat about him except that he kisses like a god and screws like a devil.”
“Sometimes being a good friend means saying nothing.”
“One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don’t do in life.”
“Thoughts – even fears – were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.”
“Of course you can fall in love. You just have to let yourself. They don’t call it falling for nothing.
-Kate”“What good did it do to light the world on fire if she had to watch the glow alone?”
“When you get . . . to the end, you see that love and family are all there is. Nothing else matters.”
“I guess no one stays friends for more than thirty years without broken hearts along the way.”
“Do you love him?”
How would I know?”
You’d know.”“The at-home mother’s life: it was a race with no finish line.”
“She still felt shell-shocked by all of it, numb. Beneath the numbness, though, was a raw and terrible anger that was unlike anything she’d felt before. She had so little experience with genuine anger that it scared her. She actually worried that if she started screaming, she’d never stop.”
“Popularity means people think they know you.”
“Nobody’s strong enough to be a parent. We just do it, blindly, going forward on faith and love and hope. That’s all it is…Being afraid…and going on.”
“So now books were her only friends. She’d read Lord of the Rings so often she could recite whole scenes by memory.
It was not a skill that aided one in becoming popular.”“Then he left her there, standing alone, surrounded by word ghosts; things she could have said.”
“It was true; always had been. Friendships were like marriages in that way. Routines and patterns were poured early and hardened like cement.”
“Sometimes being a good friend means saying nothing.”
“I’m supposed to watch her make a mistake?”
“Sometimes, yes. And then you stand by to pick up the pieces.”“It’s never good to sit around and wait for someone of something to change your life.”
“It occurred to her suddenly, sharply, that she wanted to be in love… She wanted not to feel so damned alone in the world.”
“It felt as if she were bleeding – but it wasn’t blood that leaked out of her, not something that could be easily transfused. Instead she was losing her dreams.”
“She knew this pain would fade again; like a sunburn, it would heal itself and leave her slightly more protected from the glare.”
“I thought change started from within.”
“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s forced upon you.”“Their friendship was more important than any relationship. Guys would come and go; girlfriends were forever.”
“This time I really am going to light the world on fire,’ she said, laughing. ‘I finally have a fucking match.”
“Then he left her there, standing along, surrounded by word ghosts; things she could have said.”
“Panic always comes to me in the same way. First, I get a knot in the pit of my stomach that turns to nausea, then a fluttery breathlessness that no amount of deep breathing can cure. But what causes my fear is different every day, I never know what will set me off. It could be a kiss from my husband, or the lingering look of sadness in his eyes when he draws back. Sometimes I know he’s already grieving for me, missing me even while I’m still here. Worse yet is Marah’s quiet acceptance of everything I say. I would give anything for another of our old knock-down drag-out fights. That’s one of the first things I’d say to you now, Marah: Those fights were real life. You were struggling to break free of being my daughter but unsure of how to be yourself, while I was afraid to let you go. It’s the circle of love. I only wish I’d recognized it then. Your grandmother told me I’d know you were sorry for those years before you did, and she was right. I know you regret some of the things you said to me, as I regret my own words. None of that matters, though. I want you to know that. I love you and I know you love me.”
“Drama, she’d learned, was like good punctuation: it underscored your point.”
“Here’s what I want you to know: I loved my life. For so long I was waiting for it to start, waiting for more. It seemed like all I did was drive and shop and wait. But you know what? I didn’t miss a thing with my family. Not a moment. I was there for all of it. That’s what I’ll remember, and they’ll have each other.”
“Best friends forever. They’d believed it would last, that vow, that someday they’d be old women, sitting in their rocking chairs on a creaking deck, talking about the times of their lives, and laughing…”
Excerpted from Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Chapter 1
They used to be called the Firefly Lane girls. That was a long time ago—more than three decades—but just now, as she lay in bed listening to a winter storm raging outside, it seemed like yesterday.
In the past week (unquestionably the worst seven days of her life), she’d lost the ability to distance herself from the memories. Too often lately in her dreams it was 1974; she was a teenager again, coming of age in the shadow of a lost war, riding her bike beside her best friend in a darkness so complete it was like being invisible. The place was relevant only as a reference point, but she remembered it in vivid detail: a meandering ribbon of asphalt bordered on either side by gullies of murky water and hillsides of shaggy grass. Before they met, that road seemed to go nowhere at all; it was just a country lane named after an insect no one had ever seen in this rugged blue and green corner of the world.
Then they saw it through each other’s eyes. When they stood together on the rise of the hill, instead of towering trees and muddy potholes and distant snowy mountains, they saw all the places they would someday go. At night, they sneaked out of their neighboring houses and met on that road. On the banks of the Pilchuck River they smoked stolen cigarettes, cried to the lyrics of “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” and told each other everything, stitching their lives together until by summer’s end no one knew where one girl ended and the other began. They became to everyone who knew them simply TullyandKate, and for more than thirty years that friendship was the bulkhead of their lives: strong, durable, solid. The music might have changed with the decades, but the promises made on Firefly Lane remained.
Best friends forever.
They’d believed it would last, that vow, that someday they’d be old women, sitting in their rocking chairs on a creaking deck, talking about the times of their lives, and laughing.
Now she knew better, of course. For more than a year she’d been telling herself it was okay, that she could go on without a best friend. Sometimes she even believed it.
Then she would hear the music. Their music. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” “Material Girl.” “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “Purple Rain.” Yesterday, while she’d been shopping, a bad Muzak version of “You’ve Got a Friend” had made her cry, right there next to the radishes.
She eased the covers back and got out of bed, being careful not to waken the man sleeping beside her. For a moment she stood there, staring down at him in the shadowy darkness. Even in sleep, he wore a troubled expression.
She took the phone off its hook and left the bedroom, walking down the quiet hallway toward the deck. There, she stared out at the storm and gathered her courage. As she punched in the familiar numbers, she wondered what she would say to her once-best friend after all these silent months, how she would start. I’ve had a bad week . . . my life is falling apart . . . or simply: I need you.
….
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