For my part, I know I’d probably succumb to a stereotype threat and if for some bizarre reason all the people I have known in my life were in a room together, I would probably beg the ground to swallow me whole because I would be switching from mask to mask in a matter of microseconds. I felt like a dandelion releasing hundreds of spores into the air - and not knowing if any of them would get through. But as soon as love is reciprocated, one must be prepared to give up the passivity of simply being hurt to take on the responsibility of perpetrating hurt oneself.

There was a chapter where the narrator visited Chloe’s childhood home (and her family) and realised just how little he knew about her. This is the first of Alain de Botton's writing that I've read and it has made me interested in readinf more. We locate inside another a perfection that eludes us within ourselves, and through our union with the beloved hope to maintain (against the evidence of all self-knowledge) a precarious faith in our species. Her lie was symptomatic of a certain pride she took in mocking the romantic, in being unsentimental, matter-of-fact, stoic; yet at heart she was the opposite: idealistic, dreamy, giving, and deeply attached to everything she liked verbally to dismiss as "mushy. Susan Hill, author of The Woman in BlackWith an introduction by Sheila HetiA unique love story and a classic work of philosophy, rooted in the mysterious workings of the human heart and mind.A refreshing, holistic approach to relationship issues that are familiar to everyone's experience in love, giving an understanding uncommon in many self-help books.

He never disappoints and the titles of his books are usually clear and very indicative of what you're hoping a book will be.Then, on holiday, Chloe reveals she doesn’t like being with him anymore and has been seeing his colleague, Will.

The book tells the story of their relationship and their eventual break up when she goes off with one of Alain's work colleagues.This is the kind of book that we should have read in PSHE rather than watching pointless videos about puberty.