Alone

'A book to love and cherish'

Deborah Levy, author of The Cost of Living

'A beautiful writer and, just as important, a beautiful thinker'

Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life

'Friendship is, in fact, as much the topic of this book as aloneness'

Sarah Bakewell, Guardian

At no time before have so many people lived alone, and never has loneliness been so widely or keenly felt. Why, in a society of individualists, is living alone perceived as a shameful failure? And can we ever be happy on our own?

Drawing on personal experience, as well as philosophy and sociology, Daniel Schreiber explores the tension between the desire for solitude and freedom, and for companionship, intimacy and love. Along the way he illuminates the role that friendships play in our lives - can they be a response to the loss of meaning in a world in crisis? A profoundly enlightening book, Alone explores how we want to live.