Alonement

This week I’m chatting to journalist & bestselling author, Marianne Power. Marianne’s first book, Help Me, where she takes a deep dive into the world of self-help, was published in 25 languages and became a global bestseller. Now, she’s back with her long-awaited follow-up, Love Me: One Woman’s Search for A Different Happy Ever After. In this book, Marianne explores the potential for a life less ordinary. Living alone in east London, and single in her mid-forties, Marianne asks the question of

My guest this week Lizzie Frainier, author of Main Character: Lessons from a Real Life Rom-Com and associate travel editor at The Times. In this episode, she shares what she’s learnt from over a decade of solo travel, which began with a transatlantic home swap inspired by the film The Holiday and continued with a romantic trip for one in Venice, an ill-fated motorcycling trip in Vietnam and an Eat Pray Love style pilgrimage to Bali. We also talk about Lizzie’s infatuation with rom-coms, and how the

Penny Wincer is the author of Home Matters: How Our Homes Shape Us and We Shape Them, her second non-fiction book, and host of the podcast, Not Too Busy to Write, where she interviews writers on their relationship with their craft and how they make time for it.In the years I’ve been writing this podcast, I’ve learnt alonement is just about practical considerations as it is about the emotional ones. Penny’s work is a testament to that philosophy. Her work is centred around creating the time and space

This week's guest, Thuy-vy Nguyen, PhD, is one of the world’s leading researchers on solitude, and an associate professor at Durham University’s dedicated research lab, Solitude Lab.Her interest is in ‘ordinary, everyday life solitude’, the kind you’re more likely to find in the corner of a cafe than on a 10-day silent meditation retreat. It’s solitude in moderation– or what we on this podcast like to call alonement.This episode is an edifying exploration of the latest in solitude research, from how

Struggle to cook for one? We've got you - our guest Eleanor Wilkinson, recipe developer and author of One Pot, One Portion, has dedicated her career to overcoming some of the most common hurdles people face when cooking solo. Inspired by losing her father at a young age, Eleanor resolved to seize life's simple pleasures and make every moment count, including the meals she ate alone. Trained at Ballymaloe cookery school, she turned her skillset towards the oft-neglected territory of single portion

Welcome to season 10 of Alonement! Katie Norris, an award-winning comedian and confirmed cat-cherlorette (OK, I came up with that) is my guest on the first episode of this season. Katie adopted her 'lockdown baby', Atticus, at the start of the pandemic. He's been her companion as she's established herself as a stand-up comedian, and taken a prolonged dating hiatus. She shares how she's claiming the much-maligned 'childless cat lady' stereotype (with a middle finger up to JD Vance). Plus, the highs