This Is Not a Pity Memoir

Both very funny and as propulsive as a thriller . . . impossible to put down' - RACHEL COOKE, Observer

'The kind of book you will find yourself saying urgently, over and over, to friends: 'Have you read it?' - CAITLIN MORAN

'Gripping, funny and always honest' - DAVID NICHOLLS

'Extraordinary . . . utterly compelling and so honestly told' - NIGELLA LAWSON

'Truly breathtaking. I could not have loved it more' - CAREY MULLIGAN

An ordinary day.

The end of ordinary life.

One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list - drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added 'pick up steroids'. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for twenty years lying on the bathroom floor.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

But this is not a pity memoir. It's about meeting your person. And crazed late night Google trawls. It's about the things you wished you'd said to the person that matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn't know you at all. It's about sushi and the wrong shoes and the moments you want to shout 'cut'. It's about the silence when you are lost in space and the importance of family and parties and noise.

It's the difference between surviving and living.

It's a reminder that, even in the worst times, there is light ahead.

It's a love story.