The False Friend follows the dynamic childhood relationship of Celia and Djuna, who swear they’ll always be friends — until the day Djuna disappears from the side of a main road. Two decades later, Celia, the only witness, has a flashback that leads her to believe she’s been lying about what really happened to Djuna, and she returns to her upstate-New York hometown to come clean. Author Myla Goldberg, best-known for her spelling-inspired first novel Bee Season, narrates the book, bringing a sweet, girlish tone to a story about the capacity for meanness in even the most innocent-seeming children.

As Celia tries to clear her conscience by convincing her parents, her boyfriend, Djuna’s mother, and the other girls on the road that day that she lied about what really happened to Djuna, she makes an unexpected discovery: Her memory of herself as a child and others’ memories of her reveal two very different people. And as the adults in her life brush off her interpretation of Djuna’s disappearance, the questions about that day on the road only multiply.

Though Goldberg’s readings of the supporting characters aren’t as dramatically different from Celia as some narrators would make them, Goldberg does a respectable job of voicing characters that range from 11-year-old girls to nearly-retired men. And the writing is strong enough to carry the listener through: The False Friend is full of detailed imagery, genuine emotions, and personality reveals that keep the story moving. Listeners who like their mysteries neatly wrapped up — complete with forensic evidence and signed confessions — may be disappointed in the ending, but the ambiguity feels familiar (and appropriate) to anyone who’s ever lost a childhood friendship — even if under less dramatic circumstances — without being quite sure what happened. —Blythe Copeland