Separation for Beginners

By: Joe Portman

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

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.

©2022 Joe Portman (P)2022 Welbeck Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"I laughed. I cried. I loved it." (Jack Dee)

"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)