Instructions for Heartbreak

Sarah Handyside

$34.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Macmillan
28 January 2025

'We've all done this. We know what it feels like. We can write it down.'

A beautiful, razor-sharp debut by Sarah Handyside, Instructions for Heartbreak is a life-affirming novel about female friendship, self-love and how to survive a broken heart.

What if heartbreak came with a manual?

It starts with a late-night knock on the door. Thirty-something best friends Dee, Liv and Rosa share a flat in south London, while Katie, the fourth member of their friendship group, lives close by with her long-term boyfriend. But, when Katie's nine-year relationship ends - suddenly and brutally - she turns up on their doorstep with no idea where she'll live, what to do next or how to do anything after spending so long with her life entwined with someone else's.

Out comes the martini shaker (an old, well-washed gherkin jar) and, with an unused sketchbook, an idea. They'll make Katie the handbook that she needs to process her heartbreak and start rebuilding her life. There are notes on tears, hangovers and roast chicken, scribblings about music, new bedding and pure, white-hot rage. Everywhere there is permission to feel agony and elation and anger, and everything that is extraordinary and appalling.

But Katie is not the only one nursing a broken heart. Rosa is a hopeless romantic, despite still reeling from her ex's infidelity. Scarred by her ex's parting words, Dee is committed to being commitment-free. And while Liv knows that breaking up with her girlfriend was what she wanted, she can't help but wonder if she did the right thing . . .

By: Sarah Handyside
Imprint: Macmillan
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 510g
ISBN: 9781035032761
ISBN 10: 1035032767
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 28 January 2025
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sarah Handyside is a Northumbrian in London, a former communications consultant and researcher of teenagers and social media, and a current government policy advisor. She lives with her husband and two children. The opening pages of Instructions for Heartbreak were longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Award.

Reviews for Instructions for Heartbreak

Warm, gorgeous, tender and hopeful . . . Simply brilliant -- Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable Funny, practical and moving by turns . . . a beautifully crafted, sensitive novel packed with joyous young-in-London energy * Daily Mail * A brilliant, healing celebration of the wonder that is female friendship and an essential modern heartbreak handbook -- Lucy Jane Wood, author of Rewitched A stunning, emotionally resonant novel, Instructions for Heartbreak is a life-affirming exploration of female friendship, self-love, and the journey to heal from a broken heart * Cosmopolitan * A heartfelt love letter to friendship that I couldn't put down -- Josie Lloyd, author of The Cancer Ladies’ Running Club