Animal Husbandry

Laura Zigman is the author of ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, which was a bestseller and was made into the film Someone Like You, starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd), Dating Big Bird, Piece of Work and Her. She has also been a contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, son and deeply human Sheltie.

'If someone had asked me a year ago why I thought it was that men leave women and never come back. I would have said this: New Cow New Cow is short for New Cow Theory, which is for Old Cow-New Cow Theory, which, of course, is short for the sad sorry truth that men leave women and never come back because all they really want is a new Cow. ' Jane Goodall, the narrator, is a TV producer on a chat show. She has just been dumped by a colleague, whom she was nuts about. As part of her very personal recovery programme, she develops a theory of romantic relationships - something a magazine editor girlfriend likes so much, she persuades Jane to publish under a pseudonym. It is a column which brings her success and a measure of revenge. But there is no cure for love.

Dating Big Bird

Men may be chicken. but we need the eggs. Ellen Franck and Amy Jacobs are smart, attractive, urban women, with big jobs in the fashion business. They have witnessed their contemporaries following the traditional route of marriage, children, exile to suburbia, and a general loveless, sexless existence. But now Ellen and Amy discover that they both hear the same, terrible noise. It is the ticking of the biological clock.

Edgy, abrasively funny, Laura Zigman's latest analysis of contemporary metropolitan neurosis explores how the constant presence of ex-girlfriends puts an impending marriage in jeopardy.

On a chance encounter on the Delta shuttle between NY and Washington, Elise meets Donald, six foot six, with dark wavy hair, horn-rimmed glasses, a big easy smile, and no wife, no kids.  Just an ex-girlfriend called Adrienne, and a dog. Adrienne granted Donald full custody.  It was an amicable separation.  They were still good friends, in fact. For Elise, the ex becomes a Chinese water torture.  Drop by drop, Adrienne is sending her into a frenzied state of insecurity - particularly as her April wedding to Donald approaches-

Laura Zigman

‘I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story…It’s brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier future. Heartbreaking and life-affirming.'

Written with such humour and heart that’ll make you laugh out loud and have a little sob simultaneously.

Incisive, acerbic, but also a book that’s kind to its characters… a must-read.

‘So sweetly funny, so very touching.’

‘Both poignant and giggle-inducing, this is a wry look at what happens when life doesn’t quite pan out as you’d hoped’

What a gem of a novel. Separation Anxiety is wickedly funny, heartrending, poignantly wise, and hopeful. he main character, Judy, is hilariously offbeat, yet very easy to identify with, honest and thoughtful, and I loved spending time with her.

Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife

I enjoyed Separation Anxiety very much... It has a real freshness of voice and though it is very poignant, several parts also made me laugh out loud

Laura Barmett, author of The Versions of Us

Sometimes a book finds its way to you and you just know instantly that this is the book you need now. That’s how I feel about Separation Anxiety. I think it’s the book everyone needs right now. It is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we’re all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry.

Separation Anxiety is as hilarious and painful as life itself...a joy to read

Claire Messud, bestselling author of The Burning Girl and The Emperor’s Children

The light from Laura Zigman’s new novel, “Separation Anxiety,” is generated by a kind of literary nuclear fusion: an intense compression of grief and humor.... [Zigman] has a great humorist’s eye for the comedy we’ve seen but overlooked

'A hilarious yet thought-provoking exploration of the middle-aged limbo.... With wit and tenderness, Zigman explores life's most important relationships as they develop and change over time.'

There are some very funny moments, but it’s also insightful about midlife disappointment and starting over.

A triumph of friendship and storytelling . . . Separation Anxiety confronts the stark plateau of middle age with humor and grace. It’s a book that transforms fractured domesticity into a more honest sense of community and selfhood with great wit and enormous heart.

Separation Anxiety] imparts a life-affirming vigor... Judy is a natural comedian and Zigman has gifted her with a fiercely singular voice.

' Like its messy, flawed heroine, Separation Anxiety is so easy to relate to, and to love.’

A warm-hearted, acutely-observed and knowing revelation of what it feels like when everything starts to go south.

'Quirky, comic, honest' MARIAN KEYES 
'Funny and charming' JUDY BLUME 
'Wise and wonderful' ALICE HOFFMAN 
'Written with such humour and heart' STYLIST 
'A must read' RED 
 
If you've ever wondered whether you love your dog more than your partner... 
 
Life hasn't gone according to Judy's plan. Her career as a children's book author has taken a nose dive. Her teenage son Teddy treats her with a combination of embarrassment and indifference. She has 'separated' from her husband, Gary, who is living in the basement as they can't afford a divorce. And every day she has to write content for an uplifting self-help website while stalking her nemesis online - a creativity-lifestyle-coach guru with a social media following the size of Jupiter. All Judy wants is to not feel invisible. All she wants is to fill that space inside her. And when she decides to declutter the house, she hits on a radical solution... 
 
Gleefully irreverent, tender, funny and uplifting, Separation Anxiety is a book filled with happiness and heart. A novel about the connections we make, the people we love and the joyful messiness of life. 
___________________________________________________ 
 
Praise for Separation Anxiety 
 
'I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story...It's brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier future. Heartbreaking and life-affirming.' Daily Mail 
 
'Separation Anxiety was exactly what I needed for a change of pace, funny and charming' - Judy Blume 
 
'What a gem of a novel...It's laced with moments of self-doubt and marital mayhem, but also the many small daily acts of mercy and heroism that love inspires.' - Diane Ackerman 
 
'I enjoyed Separation Anxiety very much... It has a real freshness of voice and though it is very poignant, several parts also made me laugh out loud' - Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us 
 
'So sweetly funny, so very touching.' Sainsburys magazine 
 
'My advice: Start reading and don't stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel.' - Alice Hoffman 
 
'[A] novel about stress, release, and the unlikely places we turn to for comfort in uncertain times' - Vogue 
 
'Laura Zigman is able to home in on the most tender, revealing, exquisitely painful aspects of our relationships with others and with ourselves. And somehow she manages to come out the other end with hope.' - Chelsea Handler 
 
'[Separation Anxiety] is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we're all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry.' - Laura Lippman

Separation Anxiety

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The perfect gift? A Penguin Shop gift card

Laura Zigman

Praise for Separation Anxiety

‘I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story…It’s brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier futur ...

Written with such humour and heart that’ll make you laugh out loud and have a little sob simultaneously.

Incisive, acerbic, but also a book that’s kind to its characters… a must-read.

‘I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story…It’s brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier futur ...

Written with such humour and heart that’ll make you laugh out loud and have a little sob simultaneously.

Incisive, acerbic, but also a book that’s kind to its characters… a must-read.

‘I adored this wise, funny, sad, quirky story…It’s brilliant on the stories we tell ourselves and others in order to resist change, while beating ourselves up about not taking steps towards a happier futur ...

Written with such humour and heart that’ll make you laugh out loud and have a little sob simultaneously.

Incisive, acerbic, but also a book that’s kind to its characters… a must-read.

Books by Laura Zigman

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