The Unexpected Joy of Being Single cover art

The Unexpected Joy of Being Single

Locating Happily-Single Serenity

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Unexpected Joy of Being Single

By: Catherine Gray
Narrated by: Catherine Gray
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Having a secret single freak-out? Feeling the red, heart-shaped urgency intensify as the years roll on by? Oh hi! You're in the right place.

Over half of Brits aged 25-44 are now single. It's become the norm to remain solo until much later in life, given the average marriage ages of 35 (women) and 38 (men). Many of us are choosing never to marry at all.

But society, films, song lyrics and our parents are adamant that a happy ending has to be couple-shaped. That we're incomplete without an 'other half'*, like a bisected panto pony. Cue: single sorrow. Dating like it's a job. Spending half our lives waiting for somebody-we-fancy to text us back. Feeling haunted by the terms 'spinster' or 'confirmed bachelor'.

Catherine Gray took a whole year off dating to find single satisfaction. She lifted the lid on the reasons behind the global single revolution, explored the bizarre ways cultures single-shame, detached from 'all the good ones are gone!' panic and debunked the myth that married people are much happier.

Let's start the reverse brainwash, in order to locate - and luxuriate in - single happiness. Are you in?

*Spoiler: you're already whole.

©2018 Catherine Gray (P)2018 Octopus Publishing Group
Journalists, Editors & Publishers Love, Dating & Attraction Happiness Inspiring Feel-Good
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober cover art
Alonement cover art
The Sober Diaries cover art
How to Be Alone cover art
Spinster cover art
What a Time to Be Alone cover art
Coming up for Air cover art
Get Divorced, Be Happy cover art
This Isn’t the Life I Ordered cover art
All the Single Ladies cover art
We Are the Luckiest cover art
Sober on a Drunk Planet cover art
Funny How It Works Out cover art
How to Be a 3% Man cover art
How to Be a Grown Up cover art
Eat, Pray, #FML cover art

Critic reviews

"This refreshing, unusual book needs to exist. A culture shift which repositions a single person as someone who is relationship-free, complete, and not lacking is long overdue." (The i )

"Absolutely f--king brilliant." (Florence Given)

What listeners say about The Unexpected Joy of Being Single

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    504
  • 4 Stars
    129
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    20
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    397
  • 4 Stars
    103
  • 3 Stars
    56
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    20
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    409
  • 4 Stars
    98
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    18

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this! Actually completely changed how I view being single

Thank you for giving me the facts! Thank you for sharing the good and bad side of being single and how you’re treated by others people. But mostly, thank you for the stats and the research, you’ve helped to feel happy being single and I’m so relieved that I no longer want to search. I’m happy to enjoy life for now, finally!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting book, but from the middle

Listening to first few chapters I was close to putting 1 star in reviews and returning the book. Then I forwarded couple of chapters and ca. from the middle the book became interesting and even useful and I listened it to the end and happy about it. Definitely worth listening, but may be for the next edition I would suggest to change the first 5-6 chapters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative and reassuring

Excellent and relatable.well written and kind and fun. Highly recommend
This was an excellent listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking and enjoyable

Although I found the voice awkward to listen to at times, the content is thought provoking and interesting. It certainly opened my mind into single life and different ways to view it, rather than sticking to the norms of society. Celebrating single life and our achievements, how marriage and being single hold the same value of happiness... They're just different experiences... and after all, we are all different, wanting different things... One life doesn't suit everyone... We just need to learn to enjoy the journey, and this is certainly a great read for newly found singles.. Or long term... It's all good to be single baby. Xx

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Listen with Caution! This could change your life!

Absolutely loved it! Gets right to the heart of love addiction.
Superbly written with equal measure of anecdotal and academic text.
The author generously shares explicitly personal experience and invites readers to honestly take a good look at ourselves.
She provides us with statistical, personal and physiological information to mull over.
Egaging, informing and poignant with a steady stream of genuine LOL moments throughout! Highly recommended! A life changer!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

I am listening to this book for the second time. It has totally changed my thought process for the better, would highly reccomend to anyone who worries about being single, finding "the one" .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

I wish this book had been written thirty years earlier!
A brilliant account of how damaging it can be, to pursue the wrong relationship.
This book has changed my life.

Brilliantly narrated by the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My opinion:

Our society would be far better if everyone read this book. Change is here!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Single life affirming

Made me feel normal when often made to feel abnormal due to society’s expectations of being with anyone even if ill-suited rather than be god forbid alone. Hallelujah!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting, entertaining and inspiring!

I love Catherine's writing and in this book she explains the upside of being single in a very personable, thoughtful and intelligent way. She explains her thinking through personal experience and her take on respected principles of behavioural science. It will make you view being single in a very different way and fill you with positivity... Great stuff!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!