The Most Likely Club

Elyssa Friedland has a unique ability to get inside women’s lives and minds and bring us with her so that we can vividly experience their friendships, career aspirations, romantic relationships, family dynamics, and parenting journeys. This is why I have been a longtime fan of her work.

In her latest book, The Most Likely Club, all of her authorial gifts are on display. Here we meet four old high school friends, Melissa, Priya, Tara, and Suki, who face their upcoming class reunion and the yearbook superlatives that captured their hopes and wishes. The women find themselves reflecting on aspirations not realized. They ask themselves whether those are still their dreams as they navigate the modern-day demands of being a spouse, parent, daughter, sister, and friend. And they must do so as secrets of the past emerge and risk upending their lives.

The Most Likely Club is an entertaining and thought-provoking book, with themes of second chances and the road not taken. You will laugh and root for these women while reflecting on your own challenges, choices, and aspirations not-yet-realized. You will see yourself in one (or more!) of these women and their stories will inspire you in your own journey. This is a book for you, your mom, your best friend, and your book club to savor.

In 1997, grunge is king, Titanic is a blockbuster (and Blockbuster still exists), and Thursday nights are for Friends. In Bellport, Connecticut, four best friends and high school seniors are ready to light the world on fire. Melissa Levin, Priya Chowdury, Tara Taylor, and Suki Hammer are going places. Their yearbook superlatives confirm it: Most Likely to Win the White House, Cure Cancer, Open a Michelin-Starred Restaurant, and Join the Forbes 400.

Fast forward twenty-five years and nothing has gone according to plan as the women regroup at their dreaded high school reunion. When a forgotten classmate emerges at the reunion with a surprising announcement, the friends dig out the yearbook and rethink their younger selves. Is it too late to make their dreams come true? Fueled by nostalgia and one too many drinks, they form a pact to push through their middle-aged angst to bring their teenage aspirations to fruition, dubbing themselves the “Most Likely Girls.”

Through the ensuing highs and lows, they are reminded of the enduring bonds of friendship, the ways our childhood dreams both sustain and surprise us—and why it’s deeply uncool to peak in high school.