“[A] brave and heartfelt book of truths.�—New York Times Book Review (A Group Text Pick and Editors' Choice) A Boston.com Book Club Pick! From bestselling author Laura Zigman comes a heartfelt novel about two offbeat and newly divorced sisters who move in together as adults—and finally reckon with their childhood A year after her divorce, Joyce is settling into being single again. She likes her job archiving family photos and videos, and she’s developed a secret comforting hobby: trolling the neighborhood social networking site, Small World, for posts that help solve life’s easiest problems. When her older sister, Lydia, also divorced, calls to tell her she’s moving back east from Los Angeles after almost thirty years away, Joyce invites Lydia to move into her Cambridge apartment. Temporarily. Just until she finds a place of her own. But their unlikely cohabitation—not helped by annoying new neighbors upstairs—turns out to be the post-divorce rebound relationship Joyce hadn’t planned on. Instead of forging the bond she always dreamed of having with Lydia, their relationship frays. And they rarely discuss the loss of their sister, Eleanor, who was significantly disabled and died when she was only ten years old. When new revelations from their family’s history come to light, will those secrets further split them apart, or course correct their connection for the future? Written with wry humor and keen sensitivity, Small World is a powerful novel of sisterhood and hope—a reminder that sometimes you have to look back in order to move ahead. 

“[A] brave and heartfelt book of truths.�—New York Times Book Review (A Group Text Pick and Editors' Choice) From bestselling author Laura Zigman comes a heartfelt novel about two offbeat and newly divorced sisters who move in together as adults—and finally reckon with their childhood A year after her divorce, Joyce is settling into being single again. She likes her job archiving family photos and videos, and she’s developed a secret comforting hobby: trolling the neighborhood social networking site, Small World, for posts that help solve life’s easiest problems. When her older sister, Lydia, also divorced, calls to tell her she’s moving back east from Los Angeles after almost thirty years away, Joyce invites Lydia to move into her Cambridge apartment. Temporarily. Just until she finds a place of her own. But their unlikely cohabitation—not helped by annoying new neighbors upstairs—turns out to be the post-divorce rebound relationship Joyce hadn’t planned on. Instead of forging the bond she always dreamed of having with Lydia, their relationship frays. And they rarely discuss the loss of their sister, Eleanor, who was significantly disabled and died when she was only ten years old. When new revelations from their family’s history come to light, will those secrets further split them apart, or course correct their connection for the future? Written with wry humor and keen sensitivity, Small World is a powerful novel of sisterhood and hope—a reminder that sometimes you have to look back in order to move ahead. 

'Separation Anxiety charmed me...it's melancholic, quirky, comic, honest' MARIAN KEYES, author of GROWN UPS

'Written with such humour and heart that’ll make you laugh out loud and have a little sob simultaneously ' STYLIST

If you've ever wondered whether you love your dog more than your partner...

Life hasn’t gone according to Judy’s plan. Her career as a children’s book author has taken an embarrassing nose dive. Her teenage son Teddy treats her with a combination of mortification and indifference. Her best friend has enough to deal with. And her husband, Gary, has become a pot-addled ‘snackologist’ who she can’t afford to divorce. On top of it all, she has a painfully ironic job writing articles for a self-help website―a poor fit for someone seemingly incapable of helping herself.

Gleefully irreverent, tender, funny and uplifting, Separation Anxiety is a contemporary novel that celebrates the ‘squeezed generation’; a book filled with heart and humour for anyone fumbling their way towards happiness.

'Quirky, comic, honest' MARIAN KEYES 'Funny and charming' JUDY BLUME 'Wise and wonderful' ALICE HOFFMAN 'Written with such humour and heart' STYLIST 'A must read' RED If you've ever wondered whether you love your dog more than your partner... Life hasn't gone according to Judy's plan. Her career as a children's book author has taken a nose dive. Her teenage son Teddy treats her with a combination of embarrassment and indifference. She has 'separated' from her husband, Gary, who is living in the basement as they can't afford a divorce. And every day she has to write content for an uplifting self-help website while stalking her nemesis online - a creativity-lifestyle-coach guru with a social media following the size of Jupiter. All Judy wants is to not feel invisible. All she wants is to fill that space inside her. And when she decides to declutter the house, she hits on a radical solution... Gleefully irreverent, tender, funny and uplifting, Separation Anxiety is a book filled with happiness and heart. A novel about the connections we make, the people we love and the joyful messiness of life. ___________________________________________________ Praise for Separation Anxiety 'I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story...It's brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier future. Heartbreaking and life-affirming.' Daily Mail 'Separation Anxiety was exactly what I needed for a change of pace, funny and charming' - Judy Blume 'What a gem of a novel...It's laced with moments of self-doubt and marital mayhem, but also the many small daily acts of mercy and heroism that love inspires.' - Diane Ackerman 'I enjoyed Separation Anxiety very much... It has a real freshness of voice and though it is very poignant, several parts also made me laugh out loud' - Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us 'So sweetly funny, so very touching.' Sainsburys magazine 'My advice: Start reading and don't stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel.' - Alice Hoffman '[A] novel about stress, release, and the unlikely places we turn to for comfort in uncertain times' - Vogue 'Laura Zigman is able to home in on the most tender, revealing, exquisitely painful aspects of our relationships with others and with ourselves. And somehow she manages to come out the other end with hope.' - Chelsea Handler '[Separation Anxiety] is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we're all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry.' - Laura Lippman