Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up: A Novel

The inspiration for NOT DEAD YET, ABC’s “Most Watched Comedy Debut in More Than Four Years” (Deadline)

“The new Bridget Jones for our time.”—Telegraph

“Will have you laughing whether you’re twenty, forty, or eighty.”—Heat (UK)

A Zibby Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year

A funny and heartfelt novel for any woman who wonders how the hell she got here and why life isn't quite how she imagined it was going to be.

Meet Nell. Her life is a mess.

When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell's happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she’s been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, a sky-high real estate market forces her to rent a room in a stranger’s house, and everyone has seemingly perfect Instagram-ready lives. Starting from scratch she feels like a f**k up . . . a forty-something f**k up.

Landing a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an 80-something widow with challenges of her own. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and joy. With Cricket’s help, Nell is determined to turn her life around. First, though, she has a confession . . .

Laugh-out-loud funny and painfully relatable, Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up is a celebration of friendship and a reminder that while life doesn’t always go according to plan, it doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness.

© 2023 Harper Paperbacks (Audiobook): 9780063340909

Release date

Audiobook: 5 September 2023