Friendship plays a major role in children's lives - to the extent that many parents choose their residence, and even their jobs, in function of their children's friends. Danièle Brun draws on clinical observations, examples from literature and film, and Freud's own experience to explain why these early friendships are so important.
Although childhood friendships structure all our relations with others throughout our adult life, the subject has remained largely unexplored. This book is the first systematic examination of an issue that lies at the heart of our social and psychological life.

Danièle Brun, a psychoanalyst, teaches at the University of Paris-VII-Denis Diderot. She is the author of Le Corps, L'Enfant donné pour mort and La Maternité et le Féminin.