About the Author

Leah Stewart is the critically acclaimed author of The New Neighbor, The History of Us, Husband and Wife, The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. She received her BA from Vanderbilt University, and her MFA from the University of Michigan. The recipient of a Sachs Fund prize and an NEA Literature Fellowship, she teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Cincinnati and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children. Visit her at leahstewart.com.

Reviews

“The Myth of You and Me is an intricately constructed, heartfelt story about the death of an intense friendship.” —The Boston Globe

“A smart, exceedingly well-written story about the mysteries at the heart of even the most intimate friendships between women. You’ll be reading into the wee hours.” —People

“Full of genuine feeling—and gripping, too—this book about a friendship between two women announces that Leah Stewart is a marvelous writer.” —Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier

Stewart peers into the complicated heart of friendship in a moving second novel (after 2000's Body of a Girl). Ever since a cataclysmic falling out with her best friend, Sonia, after college, Cameron's closest companion has been Oliver, the 92-year-old historian she lives with and cares for in Oxford, Miss. Oliver's death leaves Cameron alone and adrift, until she discovers that he has given her one last task: she must track down her estranged best friend (whose letter announcing her engagement Cameron had so recently ignored) and deliver a mysterious present to her. Cameron's journey leads her back to the people, places and memories of their shared past, when they called themselves "Cameronia" and swore to be friends forever. It was a relationship more powerful than romantic loveAyet romantic love (or sex, anyway) could still wreck it. Stewart lures the reader forward with two unanswered questions: What was the disaster that ended their friendship, and what will be revealed when Cameron and Sonia are together again and Oliver's package is finally opened? The book is heartfelt and its characters believable jigsaw puzzles of insecurities, talents and secrets, and if Cameron's carefully guarded anger makes her occasionally disagreeable, readers will nevertheless welcome her happy ending. Agent, Gail Hochman. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Adult/High School-Cameron Wilson, 14, is an overly tall army brat and a new kid in town. She begins an intense friendship with classmate Sonia Gray after the two meet while literally saving one another from disastrous situations. The friendship blows up in college, and Cameron struggles through a small, uninspired life until, at age 29, she ends up as caregiver to elderly Oliver Douchet, a famed historian. Then a letter arrives from Sonia telling of her upcoming marriage and wondering why the two of them had gone their separate ways when they had shared so much. Cameron chooses to do nothing until Oliver dies and leaves a package for her to deliver personally to Sonia. So begins Cameron's journey to find and understand her lost friend and, ultimately, herself. The novel unfolds at an unhurried, graceful pace, moving through flashbacks and memories, but the interest in what Oliver could have sent to Sonia sharpens the edge and drives the plot. Teens will appreciate the high-school beginning of this relationship and Stewart's notion that friendship can define a life. A poignant and bittersweet story of love.-Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"The Myth of You and Me is an intricately constructed, heartfelt story about the death of an intense friendship." -The Boston Globe

"A smart, exceedingly well-written story about the mysteries at the heart of even the most intimate friendships between women. You'll be reading into the wee hours." -People

"Full of genuine feeling-and gripping, too-this book about a friendship between two women announces that Leah Stewart is a marvelous writer." -Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier