Author:Hephzibah Anderson
For the last year Hephzibah Anderson has flirted, dated, swooned, and sighed. She has been tantalized by intense conversations, lingering looks and clinches in the back of taxis. She has watched dawn break cradled in the arms of a dangerous ex, sipped cocktails against the Manhattan skyline with a dark-eyed companion, and dined al fresco in the English countryside with a man who promises to be more than just a friend. She has talked, embraced, kissed. But she has not had sex.
Turning on its head the maxim that declares romance dead, journalist Hephzibah Anderson has thrown herself headfirst into finding romance in an age obsessed with sex. Chastened: Adventures in Abstinence is the story of her personal quest to stay chaste for a year, fusing a candid and pithy month-by-month account of her personal challenge with an exploration of what sex means in the twenty-first-century western world. In a welcome antidote to the pole-dancing hen night, Anderson elegantly unpicks our attitudes to relationships; and reconnects with the much undervalued values of courtship and intimate friendship in our lives.
Unburdened by narrative, she can form nice sentences conveying sharp thought
—— Los Angeles TimesResearchers at the Australian National University, Canberra, found that therapeutic websites can be as effective as visits to a psychotherapist...Patients improved after referral to MoodGym, a behaviour therapy site
—— The Timesa web-based program that uses cognitive behaviour therapy to help users prevent and manage depression
—— Weekend AustralianEating Pomegranates brought a prose of rare depth and distinction to the genetic science, harrowing psychology and even spiritual aspects of breast cancer: a horribly familiar pilgrimage through fear and hope for many, but hardly ever handled with such force and grace
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent4*, It's very intimate, and very well told.
—— William Leith , Scotland on Sundaysadly so prevalent in recent years, the cancer memoir has seldom scaled the heights of eloquence or the depths of understanding that Sarah Gabriel brings to this book.
—— IndependentIt always rings true, written, even at its most distressing, with elegant self-critical precision
—— Judith Rice , GuardianGabriel's account of her illness is not only a literary gem, but will force anyone who reads it to re-assess how they talk to friends and family facing a similar prognosis.
—— Emma Hagestadt , The LadyAnyone who has read Gosse, Ackerley or Tobias Wolff will know that big books can be made about small-time fathers. It's a tribute to Burnside that he maps this same territory and prompts these comparisons while creating a story that is uniquely his
—— Blake Morrison , GuardianThis is a haunting read that will linger long after you close the pages of this book
—— Michelle Stanistreet , Daily Express