Local Girls

Zancan's promising debut chronicles the end of a longtime friendship as remembered in flashbacks by 19-year-old Maggie, who's having drinks in a Florida dive bar in the company of two female friends and Sam, a movie star who happens by. After watching the trio trade barbs with some young women from the posh side of town, Sam takes a shine to them: Maggie is ambivalently pregnant, Lindsey is dating someone else's boyfriend, and Nina, despite being sassy and full of personality, is stuck in her mother's house, teaching the odd workout class at the gym. Then in walks Lila, leading Maggie to remember how Lila and Nina were once close friends. Nina and Lila meet as little kids in their working-class neighborhood and begin the sort of intense female friendship that can't be infiltrated by the rest of the clique. It continues even when Lila's dad strikes it rich and Lila recruits another member, Max, an eccentric but charming boy from her new expensive private school, to join their group. Things begin to unravel among Max, Nina, and Lila once Nina begins a prank war, culminating in the undoing of their close-knit unit. Sam's outsider perspective adds an interesting ingredient to this satisfying story. Zancan makes these young women, who are tired of Orlando and one another, into real people, contrasting their rich inner lives with their dead-end town. Agent: Monika Woods, Inkwell Management. (June)