In this show-biz drama by the author of Beaches,
two first cousins and former best friends rekindle their friendship while struggling with questions of mental illness, genius and personal integrity. As teenagers, Sunny and Dahlia Gordon created an intense bond though a shared love of music. Sunny, five years older than Dahlia, is the wilder and by far the more creative of the two, and her talent inspires Dahlia to write lyrics. Their music is good, and their friendship singular, but when Sunny's eccentricities devolve into a dangerous mental illness and her well-meaning family can no longer cope with her, she is placed in a mental institution. The cousins lose contact with each other until 25 years later, when Dahlia is living in Los Angeles and earning a living as a masseuse while trying to sell her songs. Possessed of an ambitious pragmatism that allows her to slide easily into ethical lapses, Dahlia reconnects with Sunny, who is living in a halfway house in San Diego, in order to get a song out of her. From this point on, the women are together again, each helping the other find her way out of desperate situations. Dart keeps the story moving at a fast clip with generous helpings of weddings, funerals, sing-alongs and spontaneous disrobings of the (gorgeous) Sunny. These made-for-the-movies moments are balanced by Dahlia's acerbic wit, making this an entertaining if formulaic read. (Nov.)
