Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Hal Ebbett's novel, Among Friends,

stressed me out. It's one of those novels where you want to look away but keep reading at the same time.

And it's not a thriller or a horror novel. It's actually a pretty quiet and restrained novel

about two guys who have been friends for a long time.

And I think what's so stressful about it is that if you are lucky enough to also have a

friendship that's lasted decades, you know that it comes with its own ups and downs of emotional

baggage, like every other relationship. But it's worth it, right? In this interview with

Here Now's Asma Khalid, Abbott talks about how we don't see friendship as being as

as romantic relationships and how that's a shame, even if your friends can drive you crazy. That's

coming up. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

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Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

In his debut novel Among Friends, Hal Ebbett gives us two wealthy New York families, spending a weekend in the country.

The fathers are longtime friends. The daughters are the same age.

They've gotten together for decades, but one act will rupture their close ties. Among

Friends is a story of families, but it also explores wider issues of friendship and class

and how they intersect. And it's those themes we wanted to ask the author

about. Hal Abbott joins us from the NPR Studios in New York. Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. This is such an intimate look into the psyches of individual members

of these two families. Where do the inspiration for this

...