Purchase a copy for yourself here!
Dolly Alderton is a British author, journalist, and podcast host, whose bestselling memoir Everything I Know About Love, will be released in the United States this coming February. The memoir spans from Alderton’s teen years all the way up to her 30th birthday, tracing her personal growth in the areas of career, romance, friendship, and self care. Each chapter is a vignette, and whether its a bad date or a bad party that Alderton is recounting, these vignettes weave together the time periods and themes of her life into a continuous narrative of growth and personal discovery. It will not be shocking for readers to learn that Alderton has written for television and film, as the memoir plays out very much like a serial television program and feels ripe for the screen. (Alderton is currently working on the television adaptation).
This memoir avoids self-indulgent tropes by committing to a distinct level of intimacy that strongly augments Alderton’s innate talent for storytelling. She brings her narrative to life with her characteristic wit and comedic timing, bringing a lightness to deeply relatable recollections of the ups and downs of young womanhood in the modern age. She recounts the lowest moments—the untimely death of her best friend’s younger sister, her struggle with an eating disorder after being dumped in her teens, and her journey through depression and therapy—with a sensitivity and gentleness toward herself and others that feels very refreshing. Alderton’s humor doesn’t rely on deprecation, and she avoids making easy judgments of her younger self, favoring a more honest appraisal of her growth and transformation.
However, the thread that runs most thoroughly through this memoir is female friendship. The way that Alderton writes about her friends speaks to her total devotion to them, and her appreciation of their individual lives in addition to the role that they’ve played in her’s. The most affecting chapters, for me, had to do with the death of Alderton’s best friend, Farly’s, younger sister, who contracted leukemia in her teens. Just 18 moths later, Farly’s wedding is called off, and the bond between Dolly and Farly is tested like never before. These chapters are a testament to the the purpose that true connection and kindness serve in one’s life, especially between young women struggling with personal and cultural traumas. Throughout the memoir, Alderton’s wit and compassion lend even the most basic stories an element of uniqueness and unbridled truth.