A GREAT BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP

The Ten-Cow Wives Club by Joni Hilton
As reviewed by Jennie Hansen for Meredian Magazine

Joni Hilton’s The Ten-Cow Wives’ Club is written in her usual humorous style, but leaves the reader with a serious message concerning friendship and the value women place on themselves as individuals, as wives, and as mothers. The title is taken from the popular Johnny Lingo movie concerning an eight-cow wife. The club consists of five women who meet regularly for lunch. Four of them have been friends since childhood and the fifth is an older woman they meet as young adults and discover she fits in beautifully with their little group.

The women meet to share stories about their seemingly average lives and to bolster each other through the births of their babies, life’s triumphs and challenges, their marriages, and one divorce. Their testimonies, their income, and their goals in life are not the same, yet they share the strongest bond of all; they care about each other and they are there for each other through their children’s programs and recitals, waywardness, and growth.

Sometimes women are lucky enough to have sisters with whom they form this kind of bond, but for many in this mobile world, the lifelong support group Hilton describes is formed by friends. Women are strengthened and sustained by other women when they have each other to turn to for help in times of crisis, to laugh with through life’s quirks and spiritually hold onto through the hard times. Hilton does an excellent job of creating diverse personalities and giving the ups and downs of life both a funny bent and a serious side. She lets the reader glimpse the growth and maturing of young adult women into mature stalwarts in their homes, the Church, and their communities.

The only part of the book I didn’t care for is an element that will endear it even more to many readers. It has recipes. I’m not fond of mixing fiction and cookbooks together, but I’ve heard from many readers who love this combination. I’m not sure why, but for those who do, this book will be a winner.

In a time when most people have acquaintances instead of friends, there is much to learn from both Borrowman and Hilton concerning the benefits and obligations of true friendship. They both express a view that life is richer and more fulfilling for those who make the time to form and cultivate enduring friendships.

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