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Loved One

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What to expect

'THE FUNNIEST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ ABOUT GRIEF' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD

'PERFECTLY CAPTURES THE MESSINESS, HEARTACHE AND BEAUTY OF GRIEF' RED MAGAZINE

‘For years I'd known exactly who I was to Gabe. It was a long story but I could tell it confidently, like a bartender sharing a recipe for her signature cocktail. Now things were so jumbled, I didn't know where to begin…’

When Julia’s first-love-turned-close-friend Gabe, a successful indie musician, dies unexpectedly aged 29, Julia is launched into an intercontinental quest to recover the possessions he left with friends and acquaintances across the world.

The search for these items leads Julia to Elizabeth, the last woman Gabe loved, in an interaction that leaves Julia with more questions than answers. Both women, it turns out, have something to hide, and soon find themselves engaged in a complex dance of withholding and revelation.

Together, the two must reconcile their conflicting memories of Gabe and who he was to each of them…and who they now are to each other.

From the Emmy Award-winning writer behind Hacks and Parks and Recreation, Loved One is a wise, witty and profoundly moving coming-of-age story with a powerful love at its heart, set to become an instant classic.

Critics Review

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'This is the funniest book you'll ever read about grief. Full of wildly astute, delectably thorny questions about love, loss and possession' Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle

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'A thoughtful, smart novel which perfectly captures the messiness, heartache and beauty of grief' Sarra Manning, Red Magazine

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'Funny and astute' iNews

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'Captures the complexities of the human heart…a classy and quick-witted page-turner' Woman and Home

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‘Stylish, perceptive, witty and generous. An instant classic’ Emma Forrest, author of Busy Being Free

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'I was charmed by page one of Aisha Muharrar's Loved One, which shimmers with wit even as it explores deep loss – asking enduring questions while acknowledging how funny they can be, too. What does it mean to love and lose? How do we undo – and make – each other? This is a book I will be pressing, urgently, into the hands of my own loved ones' Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans

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'Aisha Muharrar has written the type of book you don’t just read, you consume. It’s equal parts hilarious, poignant and thrilling. I was so engrossed I forgot to pick my kids up from school so I’m also mad at her' Casey Wilson, author of The Wreckage of My Presence

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'Warm-hearted, funny and written with style and panache, Loved One is both wise and a pleasure to read. I tore through it, from page one until its moving final pages. A terrific novel' Adelle Waldman, author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

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