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Talk Before Sleep
Talk Before Sleep
Nov 10, 2025 8:21 AM

Author:Elizabeth Berg

Talk Before Sleep

'Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I'd been needing to meet someone I might be able to say everything to.'They met at a party. It was hate at first sight. Ruth was far too beautiful, too flamboyant. Not at all Ann's kind of person. Until a chance encounter in the bathroom led to an alliance of souls. Soon they were sharing hankies during the late showing of Sophie's World, wolfing down sundaes sodden with whipped cream, telling truths of marriage, mortality and love, secure in a kind of intimacy no man could ever know. After years of shared secrets, guilty pleasures, family life and divorce, they face a crisis that redefines the meaning of friendship and unconditional love. This is the story of Ruth. Of Ann. And of all of us who wonder what we'd say if we knew we didn't have forever.

Reviews

Think Da Vinci mystery; add handsome men and butterfly-inducing courage. Brilliant

—— Dolly Jones, vogue.com

A gripping read by a man who really knows what it is like in the mountains - dangerous!

—— Bear Grylls

Utterly compelling ... a real adventurer's tale packed full of mystery, intrigue and plenty of derring-do. Alex Garland's The Beach injected with far Eastern mysticism and high altitude adventure

—— Ben Fogle

History and culture as well as high altitude action - you'll be hooked

—— Adventure Travel

A razor-edged thriller

—— Peterborough Evening Telegraph

A mixture of high-octane adventure and Eastern mysticism that results in a riveting read.If you like Indiana Jones then you'll love this - Indiana for the modern age

—— No 1 Magazine

Marvellously told and wonderfully done

—— Maeve Kennedy

Such intensity ... a big book about history and violence, you can feel the blood running off the page. It is also a very personal and human book

—— Dreda Say Mitchell

First piece I've read that puts you completely into the Jewish history. A fascinating new look

—— Cahal Dallat

Gripping and visceral

—— Arifa Akbar , The Independent

'The descriptions of violence are visceral. Parts could be describing contemporary Afghanistan with only a change of names... indisputably elegant.

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Close’s sardonic, well-crafted female characters and the all-too-familiar feeling of wedding fatigue will capture a large audience

—— Metro News (New York)

This debut will ring bells... An uncanny portrait emerges of a time in life marked by too many hangovers, bad dates and bridal showers - as well as an abundance of solid friendships

—— People

It’s a pleasure to get to know the characters

—— The Columbus Dispatch

Funny and often poignant...The vignettes of White Dresses are intricate and often absurd, yet instantly relatable

—— Winnipeg Free Press

So many books...say they perfectly capture the angst and soaring joys of post-college life, but Girls in White Dresses truly does

—— Metro News (Toronto)

With a light touch and utterly believable characters, Close’s...appealing debut manages to capture the humor, heartache and cautious optimism of her protagonists

—— Kirkus Reviews

Feels like catching up with an old friend... Although the majority of the stories are humorous, they are never mean-spirited, and the friendships Close portrays feel incredibly realistic

—— National Post

Close straddles the line between melancholy and breeziness as she chronicles the exploits of recent college grads trying to make it in New York City . . . Hints at something deeper and truer: not just the adventure of being young, but the unmooring of it, too

—— Entertainment Weekly

You’ll relate, but mostly you’ll laugh as Close turns her sweet-tart wit on the dating and mating shenanigans of this tight-knit group of friends

—— Redbook

Close’s wry wit and deadpan delivery...make this debut novel a treat to read. . . . An original confection with echoes of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and a dollop of Sex and the City

—— Shelf Awareness

Jennifer Close’s debut, Girls in White Dresses, follows a group of young women doing all the things they know they shouldn’t—falling for one’s boss, dating gay men—all while drinking far too many mimosas at other people’s weddings

—— Vogue.com

Funny... These stories will resonate with readers in the throes of the quarter-life churn

—— Publishers Weekly

What a delight! The young women in this hugely appealing book are charming, funny, rueful, poignant - just like their creator, in other words, one of the freshest and most appealing new voices in fiction. I can't wait for more work from Jennifer Close

—— Ann Packer, bestselling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Swim Back to Me

The only way to express my love for Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close is to tell you that this is the one book that I will be recommending over and over again to all of my friends. I laughed, I cried, I nodded knowingly as the characters waded their way through the hits and misses of their twenties and thirties. I can't remember the last time I loved a book as much as this one

—— Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of 'The One That I Want' and 'Time of My Life'

Girls In White Dresses is a dark, funny, intimate romp through boyfriends, first apartments, and great friendships - but beneath the surface lurks the jealousy, disappointment, and love that didn't quite end up the way you thought it would. Jennifer Close's brilliant, deadpan humor made me laugh so hard my own roommate thought I was nuts

—— Margot Berwin, author of Hothouse Flower

Girls in White Dresses is about a group of smart, funny, unapologetically grouchy, always-hungover female friends who kvetch their way through one another's weddings and showers, stare blearily at one another's offspring, sometimes barely tolerate one another's men, but nonetheless have one another's backs through thick and thin. Jennifer Close has written an unsentimental, frank novel about female friendship - its lifelong loyalties and unconditional love

—— Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of 'The Great Man' and 'The Astral'

I recently read a book which explores the same post-university landscape that Girls handles; Jennifer Close's Girls In White Dresses. Like Girls, it is often funny, moving and true to (my and other straight women of a certain age living in a big city) life

—— Bim Adewunmi , Guardian

Delightful… Sharply and sparely written … a great debut

—— Wendy Holden , Daily Mail, Books of the Year
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