With Friends Like These...

by Liza Fosburgh

Katie's friend Kay makes a pretext of helping her, but plans to gradually steal away Katie's husband, children and life

Genres: Horror

308 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published June 1, 1983

About the author

1930 - 2016 CHERRY PLAIN, NY Elizabeth (Liza) Fosburgh passed peacefully on January 6 at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA. Born in Moultrie, GA in 1930, Liza had been a resident of Cherry Plain, NY, for more than 50 years, though she never lost her charming southern accent. The daughter of Dr. Henry Turner Edmondson and Elizabeth Forman Camp, Liza graduated from Stuart Hall School (Staunton, VA) and Mt. Holyoke College. She then served as an editor at Town and Country magazine in New York City before marrying Pieter Fosburgh in 1957 and moving to upstate NY. Here she edited the women's page of the Albany Times Union and was a freelance writer as well. At the Times Union, she also wrote the Prudence Penny, celebrity chef column for the newspaper. Pieter, who was a well-known conservationist and editor of the NY State Conservationist magazine, died in 1977, after which Liza dedicated herself to raising her children and to a career as an author and editor. Liza was the author of nine books, including children's, young adult and adult novels, as well as three cookbooks. Her children's book, Bella Arabella (1985), became nationally known through adoption by school systems and remains popular today, its success stemming from the artful blending of her love for children and for animals, for which she was well known. She also edited the Country Roads Press series of travel guide books. Liza raised two sons, Pieter (Whit) and James (Jamie), now of Washington, DC and Winchester, MA respectively, and remained devoted to them and her five grandchildren throughout her life. Almost as important to her, though, were her dogs, and there were always two or three or four lounging on sofas in her home or hanging off the side of the boat as she rowed across an Adirondack pond. Liza's publishing of cook books was a natural outgrowth of her penchant for entertaining and her writing and editing skills. She loved nothing more than to gather friends and family around a dinner table for good conversation and good food. With a wide circle of friends throughout Rensselaer (NY) and Berkshire (MA) counties, there was never a shortage of opportunities. Liza was active for many years in the Lenox Garden Club, and was a past president; her interest in gardening was evident from the expanses of flowers surrounding her Cherry Plain home. In recent years, she also greatly enjoyed participation in the T-Club which provided intellectual and social stimulation. Those wishing to can make a donation to the Sonsini Animal Shelter in Pittsfield, MA as a fitting memory to Liza who was a long-time supporter and patron of the organization.

Reviews

[Circa Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this one in the meager horror section of my local used bookstore and was immediately intrigued by the rare, praise blurb from V.C. Andrews (yes, the OG Andrews - not the ghostwriter). I love a retro horror cover, but if you slapped on a minimalist, modern cover, its content would be more fittingly shelved as a domestic, psychological thriller. Less thrills and chills, and more of a slow decline of a seemingly perfect suburban family into self destruction. Kay, the calculating, self-interested villain is barely fleshed out and only has to plant a few nasty traps since Katie and her family are already such susceptible, open wounds.

It's a slow decline to the end, and a repetitive one at times, but something about the way these characters play out with their secret shames, small eruptions of sensitivity, and the false hope that they might escape the clutches of a strategic, two-faced peasant to their castle of wealth and privileges' kept me glued to the pages.

Also, this has one of the most mean spirited endings I've ever read. I'm still not over it.

[Denelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this as a kid and i loved it; but i can't remember the story at all, and want to read it over again