If you were to stick me in a time-machine then I would immediately ask that you take me to Laurel Canyon in the late sixties and early seventies so you already know I was ready to fall head-over-heels with this book. Add to that, the obvious inspiration taken from iconic literary frenemies Joan Didion and Eve Babitz and I was genuinely considering whether this book had been specifically written with me in mind (self-involved much? 😂)!

Set in the glittering haze of 1960s and ’70s Los Angeles, L.A. Women is a multi-layered, emotionally sharp story about female friendship, ambition and art, and the mess that sometimes occurs when all of those things collide. The protagonist is Lane, when we meet her she is already a successful writer and she's about to release a book inspired by her former best friend, Gala, who was once her muse and now… has disappeared. The story flips between the mid-60s, when their friendship first bloomed deep in Laurel Canyon, and 1975, as the  deadlines loom and where the fallout of their friendship is still very much impacting on Lane's personal and professional lives.

Naturally as we are hearing the story from Lane's perspective I did connect with her a little more than Gala, she is brilliant, brittle and emotionally armoured. She’s not always likeable, but she is fascinating and, as the story progresses we do see some emotions from her, however much she tries to hide them from the rest of the world. Gala is her total opposite... she is all vulnerability and chaos, she feels very deeply (and often destructively). She's the kind of character you want to reach into the book and hug (and maybe shake a little too)! Again, she was not wholly likeable as a character but you could see she was damaged and her heart was in the right place, can we say "a companion book which tells her side of the story please?!"

This isn't a fast-paced twisty story... it's definitely character (and place) driven, Berman writes about friendship like it’s romance, the initial spark, the deep infatuation, and the betrayal that comes when one person wants more. The friendship between them is electric, there is respect for each other but so much resentment simmering underneath. And the setting?! Laurel Canyon in its hazy heyday, studio parties, cigarette smoke and heartbreak on velvet sofas. I was in it. In the sun-faded photographs reading wine-stained typewriter pages, listening to Bob Dylan strumming his guitar on the front porch.

I loved this one for its location and it's inspiration but it's also just a really thought-provoking read about female friendship between complicated, ambitious and brilliant women so if that's your bag then you'll probably love this too! Now... Ella Berman... about that companion novel..?