'A book to love and cherish'
Deborah Levy, author of The Cost of Living

'A beautiful writer and, just as important, a beautiful thinker'
Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life

'Friendship is, in fact, as much the topic of this book as aloneness'
Sarah Bakewell, Guardian

At no time before have so many people lived alone, and never has loneliness been so widely or keenly felt. Why, in a society of individualists, is living alone perceived as a shameful failure? And can we ever be happy on our own?

'A heartfelt memoir on being single, living alone and the existential experience of loneliness'
Financial Times

'Romantic love, suggests the author, is the lone "grand narrative" to have survived seismic societal shifts in modern times . . . Hermits and intimacy, the taboo of loneliness and the consolation of friendship - all find their place in a meditation that nods to joy and adversity'
Observer

"Schreiber's arguments and personal reflections beautifully capture our emotional lives; they manage to be both honest and inspiring" - Wall Street Journal

"A heartfelt memoir on being single, living alone and the existential experience of loneliness . . . a study of intimacy and independence . . . Alone is also a very personal narrative, one that covers friendship, sexuality, depression and ageing. Schreiber's observations are heartfelt, particularly the ideas that even the most acute loneliness can bring us something" - Financial Times

"Romantic love, suggests the author of this engaging extended essay, is the lone "grand narrative" to have survived seismic societal shifts in modern times . . . He fuses memoir with intellectual flair, quoting from philosophers and psychoanalysts as he considers the lot of a larger than ever group of people. Hermits and intimacy, the taboo of loneliness and the consolation of friendship - all find their place in a meditation that nods to joy and adversity" - Observer

"Blends passages of memoir with scholarly and literary references to explore the author's existence as a single gay man who often feels he is living outside standard social models . . . Friendship is, in fact, as much the topic of this book as aloneness. Schreiber writes interestingly about it, drawing a contrast between its polymorphic freedoms and the 'grand narratives' of love and family . . . Alone follows a "small" spirit itself; it takes only brief dips into its sources, and does not drive towards any climactic answer . . . Beautiful images and insights bounce up along the way." - Guardian

"Schreiber eloquently digs in to the taboo subjects of loneliness and shame. It has to be said that Alone is not a self-help book; it's an existential book, and all the more transgressive for it. A hybrid between essay and memoir, the author puts to work the writing of various philosophers and poets, including Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sappho to examine the vicissitudes of intimacy, solitude, the solace of friendships. Schreiber is interested in the gap between the life we live and the life that we imagined for ourselves. In this sense, Alone is also a conversation about yearning for an unlived life" - New Statesman

"The challenges and contours of a life spent largely alone is the subject of Schreiber's reflective, elegantly written book - a bestseller in Germany and recently translated into English. In eight essays, blending personal narrative and psychology, Schreiber explores contemporary solitude . . . Schreiber writes perceptively of the pain of being "left behind" in love, and of the cumulative effect of routine loneliness and its insidious, stultifying impact on well-being and broader world view. His descriptions of mixed, murky feelings are evocative, moving and often instantly familiar . . . Schreiber applies psychology and sociology carefully, never rushing to flimsy conclusions or reaching for false connections . . . Schreiber's well-read self-reflection elevates Alone. With this thought-provoking, often profound book, he proffers a hand to anyone who may have felt irrevocably, irredeemably alone and says "me, too"" - New Scientist

" A staggeringly beautiful meditation . . . Alone is a monograph whose resonance will only increase with time . . . Schreiber's melancholy genius, reminiscent of Thomas Mann, is evident on every page. The delicacy of his insights, his quiet dedication to consciousness, and the calibre of his reflections mark him as a writer to treasure" - Australian

"I'm not surprised that the German essayist and biographer's poignant and personal exploration of this taboo subject spent nearly a year on Germany's best-seller list in 2021 . . . Although divided into chapters on different aspects of loneliness . . . the book's 152 pages read as one long essay on being alone . . . Along the way we are treated to snippets from sociologists, psychologists and writers . . . Schreiber writes movingly about our expectations of what counts as a good life." - Tablet

"One of our country's finest essayists, because he always manages to address exemplary topics of our time through his own biography" - Süddeutsche Zeitung