THE TENKO CLUB

Title: THE TENKO CLUB
Author: ELIZABETH NOBLE
Pages: 437
Date: 14/04/2007
Grade: 4.5
Details: By the author of The Reading Group
Own

In 1985 four girls meet when starting university in Oxford.
Freddie, Tamsin, Sarah and Reagan make a pact; No matter what happens with the rest of their lives, they'll always be there for each other. And they call themselves the Tenko Club, based on a group of women in a television programme about a Japanese POW camp during WWII.
Twenty years later, Sarah has died, Tamsin is happily married with her fourth child on the way, Reagan is still moody and difficult, and Freddie's life is falling apart around her ears.
Within the space of one hour she has left her young son at boarding school, received a call from her husband telling her that he's having an affair and wants to end their marriage, and finds out that her father, who she wasn't close to, has died.
The three remaining Tenko's travel to Freddie's father's house in America, where Freddie learns that her father did love her, and that her mother, who abandoned her when she was four, is living near by.
When on top of all this, Matthew, Sarah's widower, tells her that he loves her, this is not only enough to throw Freddie into turmoil, it could also destroy the group's twenty year old friendship.
Ultimately a feel good book about women, relationships, love, loyalty and friendship, it touches on many issues which on one level or another we all have to deal with in life.
In the end, what matters is the true nature of friendship, come what may.