Separation for Beginners

'I laughed. I cried. I loved it' - Jack Dee

This is not what Pete thought middle-age would be like. His marriage is over, his business is on its last breaths and he's spending more time than is healthy in a dressing gown. So when his 23-year-old daughter Susie needs to move back home, it's like a glorious ray of sunshine has found him at last.

Except that she brings Niall with her. Niall: the boyfriend. Niall: a druid gardener who inexplicably only works from home. Niall: the annoying shadow that follows Susie everywhere.

Getting Niall out of the house becomes Pete's new purpose in life. But as he tries to bring Niall's flaws to the surface, Pete is forced to admit he's far from perfect himself. And spending time with this oddball as awkward as it may be is making Pete open up in ways he'd long shut down.

Separation for Beginners is a warm and wise novel about facing old heartaches and finding new friends, in the unlikeliest of places . . .

This uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny read about new beginnings is perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Beth O'Leary and Marian Keyes.

'Sharp-witted, self-deprecating and honest, had me laughing from start to finish' - Daily Mail

'Sharp and heart-warming' - Daily Mail, Fiction Books of the Year

Joe Portman is the pen name for literary fiction writer Tom Connolly, who has been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award and celebrated in publications such as the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Daily Mail. This is the first in a series of up-lit commercial novels. Before becoming a writer he made award-winning short films and spent 20 years directing commercials and music videos all over the world. He lives in Brighton with his partner and kids.

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