HEARTBREAK REVIEWS:

“Much has been written about the science of falling in love, but very little about what happens on the other side,” writes journalist Williams (The Nature Fix) in this show-stopping, offbeat story about the science of heartbreak…Unflagging research—she even flies to London to interview Britain’s first “minister of loneliness”—and the author’s vulnerability make for an impressive and moving survey. This is a courageous, whirlwind tale of healing and self-discovery. —Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“A deep dive into the meaning of heartbreak....Complex and thoughtfully researched, this book appealingly chronicles healing from emotional loss and offers fascinating scientific insights into the mechanics and impacts of romantic grief. A provocative and rewarding reading experience.” —Kirkus Reviews

More Praise for Heartbreak

“Part memoir, part medical investigation, “Heartbreak” thrives as an audiobook. Williams’s narration is interspersed with recordings of her conversations with lovers and experts, as well as her own journal entries, which are like getting a tour of the restaurant kitchen — seeing what the conclusions looked like when they were still questions. Along with the personal arc comes a good deal of hard science that reveals the connection between our emotional and physical health — how white blood cells can “listen for loneliness,” for example, or how the same areas of the brain light up when we experience rejection and when a cup of hot coffee is spilled on our skin. Listeners will learn as much from Williams’s intellectual rigor as from her fearlessness in surviving a broken heart.” —The New York Times

“Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey” is a raw and exhaustively reported exploration of her suffering, the kind of reportage engaged in by Michael Pollan as he looked at his diet and his brain, or Ross Douthat when coping with his chronic Lyme disease; the kind when a journalist lands on a rich subject because he or she happens to be living it….In “Heartbreak” she reprises that kind of determined, deep-dive reporting, this time seeking the same healing for her shattered self.…[a] wise and brave book.” —Washington Post

“This surprisingly frank and funny book is what happens when a formidable science journalist turns her powers of observation and inquiry on her own broken heart.”—Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim

“What a powerful book. Williams captures the heartache of divorce and the crooked road back to living. Colorful, imaginative and poignant—Heartbreak tells a gripping story of courage, sex, and adventure packed with all the newest hard science on romance and attachment. I’ve studied love for over 40 years and I was taking notes. It’s a magnificent, wise and remarkable read!”—Helen Fisher, author of The Anatomy of Love

“Heartbreak by Florence Williams is a graceful account of losing a marriage and finding another way of being. With vulnerability and veracity, Williams seeks various modes of understanding the physicality of loss. Whoever has felt the blistering heat of a broken heart will thank Florence Williams for a clear moving river of discoveries.”—Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion

“I tore through this book, unable to do anything else. Even sleep. Florence Williams has taken the most common form of psychic pain––heartbreak, her heartbreak––and transformed it into a meditative masterwork on what it means to live a good life, with biological and genetic markers and dozens of scientific studies to back up her claims. Awe: remember this word. You will feel it at the end of this book, and it could save your life.”—Deborah Copaken, author of Ladyparts