The Ladies' Lunch

by Patricia O'Brien

Five close women friends, an elite clique in Washington, D.C., live charmed lives in positions of power and importance, until one of the group mysteriously dies, ominous questions arise, and all of their lives are changed

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Patricia O'Brien is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Glory Cloak and co-author of I Know Just What You Mean, a New York Times bestseller. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Writes also under the pseudonym Kate Alcott.

Reviews

[Tiana Hadnt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, and probably will always be, one of my favorite comfort books. I read it for the first time when I was in my early teens. I loved it then, and I love it now.

It’s always astonishing how a book can affect you at different times in your life. When I was a teen, I loved it for the drama, and the coolness of The Ladies’ Lunch as an entirely. Now that I’m older, I appreciate it as a treatise in what friendship means, how well we really know the people around us, and how to juggle all the different roles we fill.

Yes it can be cheesy at times. Yes it can be melodramatic. But it’s also one of the most honest looks at female friendships and loyalty that I’ve ever seen. You have five powerful women who meet for lunch once a month. They have for the past fifteen years. This month, one of them doesn’t show and they learn that she’s died under sudden and mysterious circumstances. Was it murder? Was it suicide? Was their something that the other four should have or could have done? How can they reconcile themselves to her death?

I love these women. All of them. Sara, Maggie, Leona, and Carol, all fighting to build stronger relationships with each other in the wake of their friends death. Trying to learn to life and work in a better way than they’ve been doing. Realizing that the people around them, and they themselves, aren’t what they’d always thought. And Faith, the friend whose death acts as a catalyst for the other four. Whose life they realize they didn’t ever understand.

This is a story about not being able to change the past, but to build strong friendships on the remnants of that past. It’s a story about loss, about letting go, about forgiving, and about love. Each woman goes through so much, and they learn to lean on each other in a way that I would love to see more women do today. Real conversations, real fears, real lives. There’s so much reality here, even if it’s laid on in a dramatic way at times.

As I said, I love this book. I’ve always come away from it with a different knowledge from what I had going into it. I’d highly recommend it.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty fast paced, and I enjoyed it. It did skip around pretty quickly, but that was ok. I thought this did a really good job of showing how even though the ladies had lunch together all the time, they really didn't know each other nearly as well as they should. The ending was kind of predictable, but all in all, it was an enjoyable read.

[Lynne Fort · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a solid story that's carried by a really strong cast of characters. I found Carol, Maggie, Sara, and Leona to be very realistic and sympathetic and I was rooting for them throughout the book. Definitely an entertaining read.

[Barb Czz]

I really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything by this author and I will read more

[Joan Horkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about friendship set in Washington DC.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book about superficial power lunchers in Washington who take a closer look at themselves and their friendship as they deal with the death of one of their members. I give it a 3plus as their was some mystery and drama at the same time as political plotting going on.

[Terri Borkgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were real and I enjoyed the history aspect too.