Conversations on Love

Lovers, Strangers, Parents, Friends, Endings, Beginnings

By: Natasha Lunn

Narrated by: Natasha Lunn, Various

An investigation of love in all its forms, featuring conversations with Lisa Taddeo, Esther Perel, Emily Nagoski, Kate Bowler, Alain de Botton, Stephen Grosz, Roxane Gay and others

Journalist Natasha Lunn was almost 30 when she realized that there was no map for understanding love. While she was used to watching friends fall in and out of love, the older she got the more she had to acknowledge: her friends' relationship struggles could no longer be chalked up to youth, and the more she learned about her parents, grandparents, work colleagues, and mentors the clearer it became that age had not brought any of them any closer to understanding this elusive, transformative, consuming emotion. One night during the months she found this realization settling over her, she sat up in bed and jotted three words in a notebook: conversations on love. In that moment, Lunn understood that she didn't want advice about love, she wasn't looking for the answers, or evergreen wisdom but she craved candid, wide-ranging, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about the parts of love that often don't make it into our everyday discussions of marriage, sibling relationships, friendships, or mother/daughter bonds. Conversations on Love started as an experiment aimed at interviewing experts about what love meant to them, in all of it's messiness, and quickly blossomed into a newsletter that attracted thousands of subscribers and a prestigious range of interviewees. It turns out that Lunn wasn't the only person ready to talk more openly and expansively about love.

Interweaving personal essays and revealing interviews with some of the most sough-after experts on love, journalist Natasha Lunn guides us through the paradoxical heart of three key questions about love--How do we find love? How do we sustain it? And how do we survive when we lose it?--to deliver a book that is a solace, a beacon, a call to arms, a tool-kit. The real-life love stories in these pages will leave you hopeful and validated, while the insights from experts will transform the way you think about your relationships. Above all, Conversations on Love will remind you what love is: fragile, sturdy, mundane, beautiful, always worth fighting for.


Conversations on Love is narrated by Natasha Lunn, featuring Roxane Gay, Greg Wise, Lemn Sissay, Juno Dawson, Melanie Reid, Stephen Grosz, Mira Jacob, Ayisha Malik, Sarah Hepola, Susan Quilliam, Emily Nagoski, Susie Orbach, Lucy Kalanithi, Isabella Laughland and Ricky Nixon

Critic reviews

“A gorgeous, richly layered book about all forms of love. You can pick it up and turn to any page - literally any - and find a gem to soothe and fortify your soul”
―Pandora Sykes, Sunday Times bestselling author of How Do We Know We're Doing It Right?

“Hopeful and uplifting... this deep dive into the human heart will expand and enrich your perspective on love”
―Evening Standard

“I underlined passages on almost every page of this wide-ranging, tender-hearted book”
―The Times, Books of the Year

"This book is a love letter to love in all its forms. It will make you see that love is truly the main point of life. To connect, to grow and to learn more deeply about ourselves through the people that populate the tapestry of our time here. Either for a reason, season or a lifetime."
―Daisy Edgar-Jones

“Uplifting... You'll laugh, cry and recommend it to your friends”
―Refinery29

“Wonderful”
―Julia Samuel, bestselling author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass

“This eclectic and heartwarming collection explores love in all its forms, from romantic and parental love to friendship and loss”
―Observer

“Conversations on Love made me laugh, shed tears, think deeply. I want every person I love to read this book”
―Dr Kathryn Mannix, Sunday Times bestselling author of With the End in Mind

Love is Universal

If we could all learn to slow down and be grateful for the things in our lives, our world and lives would be even better. Bliss really. Love connects us all and it comes in all forms.

Timeless for any reader

I loved all the interviews and input from others along with the deep personal truths shared

Amazing!!

Everyone should read this book at least once in their lives. I wish I had found this earlier in life

"Love gives everything meaning but is too easily thrown away." Conversations on love by Natasha Lunn

I read this book as part of a challenge a friend and I gave each other. we found it included among other books, stating these books will break you and heal you.

For a long time, I struggled through reading this simply because the format resembled that of a college thesis or text book, and that is the only genre I truly struggle reading and getting "in to".

However, as I muddled through, I found that I did learn a lot and relate a lot to the various authors and experts she interviewed, and their insights ranging true and touched my heart.

I am glad I did not give up on this book. Would I recommend it to everyone? No. Although everyone would benefit from different sections within this book.

In fact I'm thinking of buying the hardcover so I can take notes and add post it's.

I especially appreciated the sections on death and loss. Very well written.

Wow.

I truly struggle to find the words To describe this book. What an incredible piece of work to explore the definition and boundaries of love. Completely worth the read and the re-read. Absolutely loved this.