A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/
Anne Shirley, the protagonist of the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, is famous for seeking a "bosom friend" and looking everywhere for "kindred spirits." But do stories about friendship and community have anything to do with reality? What does reading have to do with friendship, if anything? As loneliness and disconnectedness remain persistent problems in our culture, this lecture will seek solutions in books--which themselves have been called by many writers and readers, "friends."