Introduction

1. How should a friendship begin?

2. What are women's friendships?

3. Friends and family: one we choose, one we don't

4. Disillusionment, betrayal, and rejection

5. The joy of belonging, the pain of exclusion: groups, clubs, and cliques

6. How many friends do you need?

7. Should friends give advice to friends?

8. With friends like this, who needs enemies?: competition between friends

9. Sexual tension in women's friendships

10. Do good boundaries make bad friends?

11. Why do women friends hold grudges forever?: managing anger, judgment, and shame

12. A hole in your heart: dealing with endings and losses

13. The special joy of "friendship wisdom."