The Friendship Cure: A Manifesto for Reconnecting in the Modern World

This is the first piece of non-fiction that really tickled my fancy in a longtime, and it kept me hooked throughout!

In this book, Leaver takes upon herself to dissect, explore and conclude what does and doesn’t work in friendships. Starting with why we; humans, need friendship, then Leaver sets off on an adventure to discover female friendships, male friendships/”bromance”, and answers the most intriguing question of all – can men and women ever just be mates? And with the fundamentals done, the book moves onto the ‘doing’ – how do we make a new friend? How does social media help and not help? What do we do when we’re in a toxic friendship?

Leaver’s quest on these topics leads her to fascinating academic experiments and stories from the general public. There are some really touching and memorable stories that will make you smile and remember how lovely we can be to one another; check out the friendship between Lynda and Natasha in Chapter Three – this one will pull at your heart strings too!

Leaver writes in a way that draws you right in from the start, she’s taking you on this research journey with her, she’s letting you in on all the facts she’s obtained, she’s asking you questions – in fact she’s creating the very thing she’s discussing; a friendship with you, the reader.

The topic chapters were effective. It’s easy to devour this book in one go but if you’ve only got a small amount of time or are particularly intrigued by one chapter, it’s easy to flick to it and take away some pointers.

The loneliness epidemic has hit our world, and this book explores if friendship can be the cure. If you’re in the mood for something different, or want to dip yourself into non-fiction for the first time, I highly recommend you start here. Leaver’s passion for the topic makes it an irresistible read, particularly when she gets animated about particular subjects!

Oh and I completely agree with the notion that we all need a waggy tail in our lives! 🐾

The Friendship Cure is out in hardback on 22 March published by Duckworth Overlook

Thank you to Thogdin over at Duckworth Publishers for sending me an uncorrected proof – this honest review is my way of saying ‘thanks!!’

Until next time, Chloé x