On Our Best Behaviour

Critics Review

• In On Our Best Behavior — a raw cri de coeur, penetrating social analysis, and revealing personal reflection — Elise Loehnen deftly deconstructs one of the central ideological buttresses of patriarchal society: the shaming of women for having human desires, strengths, capacities and strivings of body, mind, and soul. Doing so, she provides a guide to liberation and a return to the authentic feminine self.

  Gabor Maté MD, author of THE MYTH OF NORMAL

• A stunning, big and bold encyclopedia of how to live – the first post-pandemic book to take our latest measurements and provide something fresh to comfort, embolden, enlighten and enrich who we are today. Loehnen is never instructive but always right. The book never flags and each section has a takeaway for how to live wiser, and an anecdote to help you feel less alone. On Our Best Behavior is nothing short of a tangible necessity in our new intangible world

  Lisa Taddeo, author of THREE WOMEN

• With equal parts wit, wisdom, erudition, and warmth, author Elise Loehnen takes us on a guided journey through history, culture, and our own psychologies to not just investigate the limiting effects of Patriarchal thinking in women’s lives, but to free them. Pleasure, connection, trust, and joy – all these and more await the reader lucky enough to spend time in conversation with a truly remarkable mind. Half historical docent, half big sister with a hot cup of tea, read this author and change your life

  Terrence Real, author of US

• What if women finally found freedom – because we gave it to ourselves? In On Our Best Behavior, Elise Loehnen brilliantly reframes our toxic cultural programming and helps us to see that what we thought were our sins are actually our greatest virtues. This book is the gift we have all been waiting for

  Lori Gottlieb, author of MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE

• Elise Loehnen is absolutely excellent and this book is one of the most important books I’ve read in the last decade. It explores some of the main ways women have been insidiously conditioned subconsciously and consciously by society and culture. Please read this book, I found it liberating and we can only change what we are aware of!

  Poppy Jamie

• A reimagining of our sins on a biblical scale, On Our Best Behaviour is astute, radical and utterly compelling

  Katherine May

• The feelings On Our Best Behaviour envoked were quite extraordinary. I turned every page feeling less like I was alone for thinking so many of my thoughts. I have never read a book that has so immediately allowed me to feel as though so much of what I felt I had to do and to be wasn’t what I needed to do and be at all. This book feels like a long overdue turning point for women. I know this book, in full, part, or even a line, will allow a shift in the mind of every woman who has felt or feels she needs to be GOOD to have the life she wants

  Pippa Vosper, author of BEYOND GRIEF

• This enlightening read explores the ways we learn to practise self-denials as women through the lends of the seven deadly sins and the devastating price we pay for it

  Stylist

• Loehnen uses the seven deadly sins to track the ways in which women are encouraged to mute their own desires. It is a manifesto for happiness rather than busyness, for pleasure rather than fasting — a plea to stop racing towards a place that does not exist

  Sunday Times Style

• Beautiful, intelligent, meaningful work

  Shauna Niequist, author of I GUESS I HAVEN'T LEARNED THAT YET

• This is a really important book

  Chelsea Handler

• On Our Best Behavior by the brilliant Elise Loehnen caused a tectonic shift inside me in terms of how I see myself, my mother, my daughter, my sister, my friends, and the whole world around me. It brought so much into crystal clear focus. I was shaking my head wildly, doing call & response with the pages as I entered each new chapter in awe and wonder. If clarity, understanding, compassion and peace are interesting to you, drop everything and read this book. You will never see “good” the same way again. This book will set you free

  Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, editor of HUNGRY HEARTS

• Loehnen’s book is a whirlwind of fury about the way the Seven Deadly Sins have been co-opted to keep us small and obedient

  Sunday Telegraph

• The book is engagingly alive to the complexities involved

  Sydney Morning Herald

• You’re going to love this book’s combination of history and argument and righteousness and kindness

  Cool Story podcast

• Your book, at its essence, is pulling the thread of some pretty long held beliefs and potentially the fabric of society as we know it

  ABC Radio Melbourne

• If you are a people pleaser, feel that you sacrifice your own needs, wants, feelings, and parts of your identity in order to feel loved and accepted, this book is perfect for you. It would also suit teenage girls, women in their 20s and anyone questioning their internal happiness

  Glam Adelaide

• [On Our Best Behaviour] is a thought-provoking read that holds up a mirror to society . . . I devoured this book, even breaking out the highlighters and sticky tabs to mark my favourite quotes. It puts into words experiences I, and many other women, have known but may not have had the words to articulate until now. An absolute must read piece of non-fiction this year

  Fashion Journal

• A deep dive into the everyday challenges faced by 30- and 40-something women, and an insightful look into the deeper societal forces at play. If you are Gen X you will feel

  Primer: 21 of the Best Books We Read This Year

• An engaging work that offers an opportunity for pause and reflection regarding our daily choices

  Kirkus Reviews

• A deep dive into my own psyche of questioning everything

  The View

• You will finish this book and immediately hand your copy over to your best friend

  Jennifer Aniston

• A fascinating read . . . it blows your mind. I highly recommend this book . . . I left feeling energized and galvanized to take back my true fucking freedom. And I hope it has the same impact on you

  iWeigh