Take What You Can
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Author: Naima Coster
Published: 2026
Genre: English
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IBC Editorial Rating: 3.5/5
This book is handpicked by the IBC Editorial Team. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to have a book reviewed by IBC, you may reach us at editorial@indianbookclub.com — we’ll be happy to review it.
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Editorial Review:
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other, bonding as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip and becoming instant best friends. Now in their thirties, each married and expecting a daughter, they are ready to raise their girls together, especially after Milly suggests Val move to New York so their families can grow side by side. But beneath their excitement lies a quiet, unspoken question neither wants to say aloud: has their friendship always worked best as a trio, built around Helene, the older woman who once showered them both with money, attention, and a vision of what their lives could become? Without her, Milly and Val must confront who they really are to each other, and what remains of the bond that first brought them together in France. Naima Coster explores sisterhood, motherhood, and the long reach of the past with characteristic precision and heart.
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Book Summary:
Val and Milly's friendship began in college, forged during a study-abroad trip to France where they were the only two Black students in their program. That shared experience deepened into something like sisterhood, further shaped by their relationship with Helene, an older woman who took both young women under her wing, offering them money, affection, and a glimpse of a future neither had quite imagined for herself. Now in their early thirties, both pregnant with daughters, Val and Milly are ready to bring their families closer together, with Val and her husband relocating to Brooklyn to be near Milly. As their lives converge once again, old dynamics resurface alongside new pressures. Milly, a successful influencer married into restaurant royalty, wrestles with her desire for independence within her marriage and her own ambivalence about impending motherhood. Val, a journalist working to finish her first book, struggles to find her footing within Milly's more affluent, glamorous world, all while confronting her own complicated feelings about class, ambition, and belonging. As motherhood approaches for both women, the unresolved questions from their shared history in France begin to surface in ways neither can avoid. Coster traces how deeply their bond has been shaped by wealth, class, and the absence of the mother figure who once held them together, following Val and Milly as they navigate strained marriages, the demands of new motherhood, and a friendship that may not survive what has long gone unspoken between them.
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Key Takeaways:
“Chosen family and its fragile foundations”: Val and Milly's bond, shaped so profoundly by Helene's presence in their lives, raises real questions about what happens to a friendship built around a third person once that person is gone. Coster examines this absence with genuine complexity, refusing to offer easy answers about what remains. “Class and money as quiet dividers”: As Val and Milly's adult lives diverge in wealth and social capital, the novel is thoughtful about how money can subtly reshape even the closest relationships, creating distance that neither woman fully wants to acknowledge or name. “Motherhood without a maternal blueprint”: Both women approach impending motherhood without reliable maternal figures of their own, and Coster is attentive to how disorienting it can be to become a mother while still processing the absence of one in your own life. “Old wounds resurfacing under new pressure”: The unresolved rift that began in France continues to shape Val and Milly's adult relationship, no matter how much both women try to avoid it. Coster suggests that some ruptures simply wait patiently until circumstances force them back into the light.
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Iconic Lines, Scenes & Characters:
"Val": A brilliant journalist working to complete her first book while adjusting to Milly's more glamorous world, Val's struggle to define her own worth outside her friendship gives the novel much of its introspective weight. "Milly": Successful, ambitious, and privately ambivalent about both her marriage and impending motherhood, Milly emerges as one of the novel's most complex characters, her open marriage and emotional distance adding real depth to her arc. "Helene": Though not physically present in the novel's central timeline, Helene's influence over Val and Milly's formative years in France looms over every part of their adult relationship, her absence raising as many questions as her presence once did. "The shared history in France": The study-abroad trip that first brought Val and Milly together becomes the novel's emotional anchor, its unresolved tensions rippling forward into their present lives no matter how much distance or time separates them from it.
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Who Should Read This:
Readers who love richly observed stories about long-term female friendship, particularly those complicated by class and diverging life paths, will find Val and Milly's bond a compelling, if imperfect, central relationship. Anyone drawn to novels exploring motherhood without a reliable maternal blueprint will connect with how thoughtfully Coster portrays both women's uncertainty as they step into parenthood themselves. Fans of character-driven fiction that sits with flawed, complicated women rather than easy likability will appreciate how honestly Coster portrays Val and Milly's myopia and humanity in equal measure. A note for readers: both Val and Milly make choices throughout the novel that range from confusing to deliberately destructive, and not every thread introduced receives full resolution by the end. Readers who enjoy sitting with complicated, imperfect characters will find the most to appreciate here.
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IBC Editorial Note:
This review is part of the Indian Book Club’s editorial initiative to spotlight books that inspire, inform, and leave a lasting impact on readers. Every title featured is carefully handpicked and reviewed by the IBC Editorial Team to maintain quality, authenticity, and literary value. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to submit a book for review, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please write to us at: editorial@indianbookclub.com Our team personally evaluates each submission, and selected books are featured as official IBC Editorial Reviews on our platform.
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