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‘The Forgotten Girls’ Review: The Friend Who Was Left Behind

Why, given that the author and her friend were both smart, ambitious and hell-bent on escaping rural Arkansas, did one succeed and one fail?

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Darci Brawner (left) and the author. Photo: The author

When journalist Monica Potts came across research detailing a striking drop in life expectancy among the least-educated white Americans, she returned to her depressed rural hometown of Clinton, Ark., to investigate. She was especially interested in understanding the rise in midlife deaths among white women, but her focus promptly narrowed to one woman in particular: her childhood best friend, Darci Brawner.

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