“A delight, the literary equivalent of a long catch-up with a brilliant friend.” —New York Times“One of the most talked-about books of the year.” —Gayle KingWhen you’re a woman of a certain age, you are only promised that everything will get worse. But what if everything you’ve been told is a lie?Come to Paris, August 2021, when the City of Lights was still empty of tourists and a thirst for long-overdue pleasure gripped those who wandered its streets.After New York City emptied out in March 2020, Glynnis MacNicol, aged forty-six, unmarried with no children, spent sixteen months alone in her tiny Manhattan apartment. The isolation was punishing. A year without touch. Women are warned of invisibility as they age, but this was an extreme loneliness no one can prepare you for. When the opportunity to sublet a friend’s apartment in Paris arose, MacNicol jumped on it....

Selected as one of BuzzFeed's "Exciting Summer Books" Featured in Goop's "15 Books We're Reading This Summer" Selected as one of Vogue's "13 Books to Thrill, Entertain, and Sustain You This Summer" Selected as one of Bustle's "15 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out In July 2018" If the story doesn't end with marriage or a child, what then?This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her 40th birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer, and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity, relegated to the sidelines, or indulgent spoiled creatures who think only of themselves. Glynnis refused to be cast into either of...