Why this book exists
A focused place to understand what is happening
At forty-four, Vivien had never had a relationship that lasted, and the question she could not answer, the one others sometimes asked and she asked herself far more often, was the simplest and cruellest of all: why. She was not, by any account she or others could give, unlovable. She was warm, intelligent, kind, good company; she had close friends who loved her, a career, interests, a full enough life. She had wanted, always, a partner, a great love, a shared life; it was not that she had chosen to be single or preferred it. And yet, across all her adult years, it had simply never happened. There had been dates, a few short involvements, some near-misses, a scattering of hopes that came to nothing, but never the lasting love she had wanted. And now.
The writing is designed to reduce shame, bring the underlying pattern into view and give you practical ways to respond without pretending that every life follows the same formula.
