About the Book
It's the most annoying question and they just can't help asking you. You'll be asked it at family gatherings, weddings, and on first dates. And you'll ask yourself far too often. It's the question that has no good answer. It's the question that when people stop asking it, makes you feel even worse: Why are you single? On a brisk October morning in New York, Julie Jenson, a single thirty-eight-yearold book publicist, is on her way to work when she gets a hysterical phone call from her friend Georgia. Reeling from her husband's announcement that he is leaving her for a samba teacher, Georgia convinces a reluctant Julie to organize a fun girls' night out with all their single friends to remind her why it is so much fun not to be tied down. But the night, which starts with steaks and martinis and ends with a trip to the hospital, becomes a wake-up call for Julie. Because none of her friends seems to be having much fun right now: Alice, a former legal aid attorney, has recently quit her job to start dating for a living; Serena is so busy becoming a fully realized person that she can't find time to look for a mate; and Ruby, a curvy and compassionate woman, has been mourning the death of her cat for months. So, fed up with the dysfunction and disappointments of being single in Manhattan, Julie quits her job and sets off to find out how women around the world are dealing with this dreaded phenomenon. From Paris to Rio to Sydney, Bali, Beijing, Mumbai, and Reykjav?k, Julie falls in love, gets her heart broken, sees the world, and learns more than she ever dreamed possible. Back in New York, her friends are grappling with their own issues -- bad blind dates, loveless engagements, custody battles, and single motherhood. Through their journeys, all these women fight to redefine their vision of love, happiness, and a fulfilled life. Written in Liz Tuccillo's pitch-perfect, hilarious, and relatable voice, How to Be Single is the ultimate novel for the adventurer in us all.
Review :
"A fun read that reminds single girls everywhere that it's fabulous to be single." -- Plum Sykes, author of "Bergdorf Blondes"
"Liz Tuccillo's debut novel is part fascinating, hands-and-lips-on anthropological study and part whirlwind trip around the world. But most of all, How To Be Single is a tribute to female friendship with a double dose of hilarity and heart!" -- Claire Cook, author of "Summer Blowout" and "Must Love Dogs"
"With a brutal honesty and an outrageous sense of humor, Liz Tuccillo achieves the impossible -- she gives a fresh, new voice to the world of the single-and-looking-for-love. Tuccillo forces us to think outside the box while taking us on a trip around the world and into the lives of single women everywhere. She has created a new genre: the chick-lit travelogue." -Josh Safran, Producer, "Gossip Girl"
"This book is a celebration of the 'magnificent, cruel, sublime, heartbreaking party' that is love. I'm quoting one of my favorite lines from How to Be Single here, and you'll be doing the same as soon as you crack open this delicious feast of a first novel that examines how it is to be single around the world. Liz articulates the quest for love and the nuance of friendship in such a fresh, soulful, humorous, modern, honest voice, you can't help but fall in love with her characters, and with Liz as well." -- Cindy Chupack, author of "The Between Boyfriends Book" and writer/executive producer of "Sex and the City"
"Tuccillo, author of the enormously popular "He's Just Not That Into You" (2004), ventures into fictional territory that distinctly echoes "Sex and the City"...Both entertaining and thoughtful, Tuccillo's debut is a must read for women navigating the sometimes treacherous dating world." -- "Booklist"
"In her energetic fiction debut, [Tuccillo] follows the dating lives of five single New York women, one of whom, narrator Julie, is writing a book about how bachelorettes across the world manage. The subsequent stories of courtship, marriage and romantic expectations ƒare revealing and compelling." -- "Publishers Weekly"
"Tuccillo, a former story editor of HBO's "Sex and the City", shows that she can tell a story on the page as well as she can on the small screen. Her novel cleverly moves back and forth between the heroine's travels all over the world to her friend's dealing with the everyday minutiae back home in New York City." -- "Romantic Times"
