Kate Fair is a bookseller at the Puget Sound Book Company in Seattle, Washington, in 1991. When the store receives a book request, Kate is elected to answer the letter request written from Paris by Frida Rodriguez. She sends the book to Paris along with her letter, and a friendship ensues between the two women. Frida desires to become a war journalist, and joins a foreign correspondent friend on a trip to Sarajevo in August of 1992. Kim Fay interjects distressing yet realistic descriptions of what Frida encounters in a war zone, while Kate is dealing with a serious unexpected family illness at home in Seattle. The two friends bond, and the result is a thought-provoking novel about real life issues. Recommended.