Meghan Laslocky - The Little Book of Heartbreak: Love Gone Wrong Through the Ages

A PLUME BOOK

THE LITTLE BOOK OF HEARTBREAK

MEGHAN LASLOCKY grew up on a farm in Vermont and graduated from Middlebury College and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She has been dumped at least a dozen times, including on her birthday, in her own kitchen, over instant messenger, by a Willem Dafoe doppelgnger, and after moving across the country for a guy. She now lives in the Bay Area with her husband, her son, and three cats.

A PLUME BOOK

PLUME

Published by Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North 2193, South Africa Penguin China, B7 Jaiming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, January 2013

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright Meghan Laslocky, 2013

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Laslocky, Meghan.

The little book of heartbreak : love gone wrong through the ages / Meghan Laslocky.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-1-101-60283-6

1. Couples. 2. Love. 3. Separation (Psychology) 4. Adjustment (Psychology)

I. Title.

HQ801.L313 2012

306.7dc23

2012018688

Printed in the United States of America

Set in Granjon LT Std

Designed by Victoria Hartman

PUBLISHERS NOTE

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For Brandon and Henry,

who shooed heartbreak away

L ITTLE AS IT IS , this book was many years in the makingor at least the thinking. So many people have helped me along the way with their support, expertise, personal experience, and good old-fashioned words of wisdom, and without them The Little Book of Heartbreak would still be an unwieldy pile of notes in a little-visited folder on my desktop.

First of all, many thanks to my agent, Lindsay Edgecombe of Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, who not only bravely requested a brain dump and got one but could see in that vast mess the kernel of an idea that became The Little Book of Heartbreak. Then to my editor, Kate Napolitano, I owe eternal gratitude for understanding from the get-go what this book should be, as well as for her incisive and exacting edits, enthusiasm, and patience. Over the course of the months it took to write this book, Lindsay, Kate, and I became a triumvirate, and surely no three women have ever thought harder about the conundrum that is love gone wrong.

My husband and son, Brandon and Henry Sprague, put up with months of my crankiness and a chronic shortage of clean underwear, and for that I cannot say thank you enough. My sister, Jenna Laslocky, and my parents, Russell and Fleur Laslocky, were patient and supportive during the many interactions when I was vague and distracted (probably because I was typing or reading while I talked), as were my in-laws, the ever-lovely Douglas Sprague and Natalie Forrest.

For their expertise in various and sundry areas that are obscure to most mere mortals, I thank Zoltn Kvecses, Ethan Kross, Phillip Shaver, Eric Jager, Art Aron, Geoff MacDonald, Poppy Siahaan, Marc Ettlinger, Silvia Evangelisti, and Xiaobing Tang.

Without Adam Hochschild and Deirdre English of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Im not sure where I would be (but Im pretty sure it wouldnt involve having my first book under my belt). Ditto for my brilliant, wry, and wise therapist, Dr. Mitchell Wilson, whom I first began to see years ago when I was a puddle of heartbreak and under whose watch I have become (I hope!) the person Im supposed to be.

My friend and fellow debut author Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic deserves a special shout-out, not only for immediately understanding the basic idea of the book and going to bat for it but for the many times when she picked up the phone on the first ring. Writing a book is a long and lonely process, and there were many moments when it felt as if Stephanie was the only one who could really hold my hand.

Then thank you to my many wonderful other friends, whether they cheered me on when I was overwhelmed, shared tidbits from their own heartbreak histories, or turned me on to their favorite song about love gone wrong: Kae Sharpe Drasin, Diane Lafleur, Leonore Reiser, Cerissa Tanner, Frankie Dunleavy Yeaton, Ben Charny, Colleen Wilson, Victoria Mills, Jean Messier, Jennifer Harrison, Debbie Zambetti, Jocelyn Lamm Startz, Britty Shaw, Grace Jeffers, Alisa Weinstein, Daniella Korotzer, Sara Eichner, and Tiffany Shackelford.

Finally, while I never thought Id issue a thank-you to the men who shotgunned pain under my breastbone, here we are, all these years later. This ones for you, boys.