Introduction

At 27 years old, I found myself with a broken down marriage and two children under two to raise on my own. I had no other option than to survive. Nah, scratch that, I needed to thrive.

But where would I begin? I wasn't sure if I knew how to live alone, let alone how to boss it solo with a couple of kids in tow.

It's been a hell of a journey signposted with dating fails, money worries and ex-husband woes, but when was a Back-up Plan ever straightforward?

This book is the one I needed to read in the lonely 3am darkness of an unfixable marriage, lying next to a man I was sure I didn't want to be tied to anymore but whom I was too scared to leave.

This book is the one I needed to read when I picked up my first packet of anti-depressants and read Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation to feel off-the-cuff and cool (but just felt more depressed).

This book is the one I needed to read in the infinitely long days that stretched ahead of me alone with two infants, minimal sleep and no hope.

This book is the one I needed to read when shamefully I carted my two toddlers to Boots to pick up my very first Morning After Pill after my very first One Night Stand.

This book is the one I needed to read when my world was about to fall apart.