The Virago Book of Friendship

A highly entertaining, often instructive anthology bursting with every kind of amicable - or inimical - anecdote … Cooke has dug deep and uncovered nuggets of pure gold in every form of writing: letters, diaries, poems, novels - conventional and graphic - children’s comics and even a newspaper agony aunt … this delicious book is about the great power and strength of real friendship, whether of besties at school, students sharing digs, suffragettes, WAAFs in freezing barracks, feminists, work colleagues or members of like-minded groups * Tablet *
A treasure chest – Ceci Browning * The Times *
An uplifting anthology – Claire Brayford * Harper’s Bazaar *
A fascinating document * Literary Review *
An exhilaratingly wide array – Sam Leith * Spectator *
This is the perfect book to keep by your bedside … Are women’s friendships more complex and intense than men’s? Reading this, I think yes – Anne Sebba * Daily Mail *
A delicious book – Hadley Freeman * Sunday Times *
There is a lot of joy in this book … The late Rachel Cooke anthologises the experience of female relationships in all their myriad complexity - from the tender to the toxic

RACHEL COOKE was born in Sheffield 4 July 1969. A journalist for the Observer for twenty-five years, she reviewed books, interviewed celebrities, politicians and writers, championed graphic novels, and wrote a weekly TV column for the New Statesman. In 2006, Rachel Cooke was named Interviewer of the Year at the British Press Awards.

Her first book, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties published by Virago in 2013, was followed by Kitchen Person: Notes on Cooking & Eating, a collection of her pieces from her Observer column, published by Weidenfeld in 2023. The Virago Book of Friendship was published in hardback in 2024. All three of her books reflect the passion and the wit of a great and beguiling writer. Clever, wide-ranging and inspiring, her knowledge and sheer appetite for life was shared with millions of readers.

Rachel Cooke died in London on 14 November 2025 aged 56.

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