Available As Is

A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love

Debbie Weiss

$32.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

She Writes Press
13 September 2022

Memoirs; Coping with death & bereavement; Dating, relationships, living together & marriage

After losing her husband, George—her one and only since high school prom—to cancer, fifty-year-old Debbie Weiss found herself opening a new chapter of life that she didn’t know how to start.

Initially, she binge-watched Netflix and drank Manhattans. Then she became a dating monster—starting with J-Date and then moving on to multiple other sites. Soon, Debbie was averaging two dates a day; in the blink of an eye, she’d gone from respectable widow to the girl you’d do in your Trans Am but wouldn’t take to the prom. At one point, she was actually dating four guys at once, including a politician who refused to let Debbie meet his family because they’d met online. But as she juggled these many men, she began to feel that midlife dating was less an earnest romantic endeavor and more a battle of the sexes . . . and the line in the sand was how much women were willing to tolerate.

Fed up, Debbie went offline. Only then, without the distraction of dating to keep her busy, did she finally, truly grieve her loss—and as she did, she also realized that she needed to forgive herself, both for George’s death and for losing her identity in their marriage. Equal parts poignant and punchy, Available As Is is a darkly humorous account of seeking love—but finding yourself.

By: Debbie Weiss
Imprint: She Writes Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 215mm, Width: 139mm,
ISBN: 9781647422370
ISBN 10: 164742237X
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 13 September 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Debbie Weiss is a former attorney who earned her MFA in creative nonfiction from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2020. A native of the Bay Area, she turned to writing after George, her husband and partner of more than three decades, died of cancer in April 2013, and she found herself single and living alone for the first time in her life. Weiss’s essays have been published in The New York Times's “Modern Love” column, HuffPost, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Elle Décor, and Reader’s Digest, among other publications. Her award-winning blog, TheHungoverWidow.com, dispenses empathy and advice on grief and dating after loss. She lives in Benicia, CA.

Reviews for Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love

This is a deeply personal story but one that Weiss shares with a beguiling openness and wit. A sharply written, heartfelt dating account that proves both enriching and amusing. -Kirkus Reviews A sudden widow at fifty, Debbie Weiss captures the absurdity of modern dating as a grown up. With unexpected humor and much-welcome hope, Available As Is is a deeply moving story of trying to build a new life after loss. -Allison Gilbert, author of Listen, World! and Passed and Present With unflinching honesty, Weiss lays out her road from loving marriage, to grieving widow, to dating again. Eye-opening to some and painfully relatable to others, Available As Is is brave, authentic, and exceedingly validating for others working to find love in these disconnected times. -Ann Garvin, USA Today best-selling author of I Thought You Said This Would Work Scorchingly honest, romantic, funny, desperate, and heartbreaking, Debbie Weiss's memoir Available As is may be the widow's story of the millennium. Read it and weep. Read it and rejoice. -Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean A brave, honest look into the trials and tribulations of dating as a middle-aged widowed person. Weiss's debut memoir is at once poignant and entertaining, and ultimately helps us to realize that the most important relationship we'll ever have is the one we have with ourselves. -Jenny Lisk, author of Future Widow and host of The Widowed Parent Podcast