Desire and deceit, love and loathing -- The Nightingales is a novel about best friends. It's summer 1989, and as an insufferable heat stalks the city of Toronto, Julie and Alex fall madly in friendship. Alex wants nothing more than languorous nights of gin, pool-hall confidences and loyalty, but Julie wants something else - love. Enter Luc. Sexy misadventures and labyrinthine passions scorch the night as Julie looks for life in all the wrong places. Entangled in Alex's affections and jealousies, Julie's innocence becomes a luxury she can't afford. Sensual and textured, The Nightingales hits the jackpot on the ante of the female heart.