Ask almost any woman about her first best friend, and you will most likely experience a moment of silence, then a burst of memories of what her childhood was like. Whispering and giggling, hand in hand, young girlfriends entertain, comfort, enlighten, and shape each other at a precious time when their self-images are just being formed.

In My First Best Friend Nancy Lindemeyer, the founding editor of Victoria magazine, gathers thirty intimate and touching stories of these early friendships. Whether the girlhood bonds survived into adulthood or dissolved because of unbridgeable separations, each story reminds us that however far we travel in life, we remain close to the roots of our childhood. As readers get to know the subjects of these stories—women of all ages, from all over the United States—they will inevitably be carried back to their own youth and recall the freshness of that once-in-a-lifetime first friendship

Nancy Lindemeyer was the founding editor of Victoria magazine. A career journalist, writer, and editor, Lindemeyer began her career at American Heritage and was at Better Homes and Gardens before launching Victoria. She lives in Ames, Iowa, and Ardsley-on-Hudson, New York.