Instructions for Heartbreak: A gorgeous, razor-sharp novel about female friendship and surviving a broken heart

Instructions for Heartbreak is a life-affirming story about female friendship, self-love, and surviving a broken heart. It follows Katie, who turns up on her flatmates' doorstep with no idea what to do next. They create a heartbreak handbook to help her process her feelings and rebuild her life. The book explores the complexities of female friendships, relationships, and growing up, and the power of women coming together to help one another. Readers are loving it, with many praising its nuanced and emotionally intelligent storytelling.

Format: Hardback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 30 January 2025
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Instructions for Heartbreak is a life-affirming story about female friendship, self-love, and how to survive a broken heart. It follows the lives of four women who share a flat in south London: Dee, Liv, Rosa, and Katie. When Katie's nine-year relationship ends suddenly and brutally, she turns up on their doorstep with no idea what to do next. The women decide to make Katie a handbook to help her process her heartbreak and start rebuilding her life. The handbook includes notes on tears, hangovers, roast chicken, scribblings about music, new bedding, and pure, white-hot rage. However, Katie is not the only one nursing a broken heart. Rosa is a hopeless romantic, despite still reeling from her ex's infidelity. Dee is committed to being commitment-free, and Liv knows that breaking up with her girlfriend was what she wanted, but she can't help but wonder if she did the right thing. Tested by big life changes, even the closest friendships can fray – could the heartbreak handbook they intended for Katie contain the words they all need to hear? Instructions for Heartbreak is an essential modern heartbreak handbook that Lucy Jane Wood wishes had been around for her younger self. It is a stunning, emotionally resonant novel that explores the complexities of female friendship and the challenges of navigating heartbreak.

Weight: 522g
Dimension: 145 x 224 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781035032754