After a painful two-year relationship, Melissa Febos planned a three-month break from dating, romance and sex, then extended it to a full year, which became the most fulfilling of her life. She looks back on the chain of romances from her teens into her mid-thirties and the patterns behind her midlife crisis, and weaves in the lives of women such as Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf and Octavia Butler, arguing that celibacy can reshape friendship, spirituality, creative work and self-worth and become a path to pleasure.
Details
| ISBN | 9780593537237 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 2025 |
| Publication Date | June 3, 2025 |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 288 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Finalist, 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography. First hardcover edition. A Borzoi book. TIME 100 Must-Read Books of 2025. Includes bibliographical references. Paperback published 2026-06-02. |
| Rating | Good |
| Genre | Memoir; Non-Fiction |
| Subject | Celibacy; Febos, Melissa; Lesbians -- Biography; Pleasure; Self-realization in women; Sexual abstinence; Women authors, American -- Biography |