Best of Friends: Martha and ME - Hardcover

Pasternak, Mariana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061661279 ISBN 13: 9780061661273

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010

Synopsis

For more than two decades, Mariana Pasternak and Martha Stewart were nearly inseparable. Neighbours and suburban wives wedded to successful men, they had much in common, a bond that deepened after their marriages ended in divorce. This title tells the story of their friendship.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Set in a world of luxury and power, this is the story of two remarkable women and a friendship that changed both their lives forever.

For more than two decades, Mariana Pasternak and Martha Stewart were nearly inseparable. They first met over a garden gate in Westport, Connecticut, two suburban wives wedded to successful men but with grand aspirations of their own. Their bond only deepened after their marriages ended in divorce. Struggling as a single mother, but drawn into a seductive world of privilege and adventure, Pasternak watched with admiration as her friend built an empire that would make her one of the richest women in America.

A European émigré with sophisticated tastes, Pasternak helped to smooth Stewart's rough edges, while Stewart drew Pasternak into a rarefied world, where together they navigated the sometimes hilarious and often difficult challenges of being single. The depth of their friendship not only benefited them both but also influenced how they defined themselves, through good times and bad. Friendship between women is never simple and this one was no exception.

With Stewart's newfound success and Pasternak's zest for adventure, the two women's friendship was based on their mutual quest for wonder and discovery. They rode horses through the desert dunes of Egypt, hiked the winding Inca Trail to the mysterious Machu Picchu, paddled at night in dugout canoes through the Amazonian jungle. They toasted the good life with thin-stemmed champagne glasses and sipped “jade dew" green tea in Martha's Turkey Hill kitchen. This was no ordinary life.

As time passed, money, men, and the arrogance of wealth frayed the bonds they had built so carefully over more than twenty years. The final break came when Pasternak was called as a witness in the high-profile trial that brought about Stewart's conviction and prison sentence. Pasternak's deeply personal memoir tells the story of their friendship with honesty and candor, reflecting on the power of such intense relationships to change our lives, and the devastating aftermath when those relationships end.

About the Author:

Mariana Pasternak grew up in Romania and immigrated to the United States as a political refugee. The mother of two daughters, she has been a biomedical engineer and has held other positions involving computer-based research and development. For the past twenty years, she has been working as a realtor in Connecticut, where she lives.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061661279
• ISBN 13: 9780061661273
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288