The thing about infidelity in a long term monogamous relationship is that it’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t gone through the complete and total destruction of self you experience. When the person who betrays you has been with you for most of your adult life, you aren’t just mourning the betrayal and the loss of your future together. You are literally faced with reevaluating every positive and formative experience you had that they were a part of.

That’s what Hannah Pittard accomplishes here. She isn’t just recounting past conversations with her now ex-husband and ex-best friend to narrate the history of these relationships. She’s painstakingly recreating an identity that no longer includes trusting two people she trusted the most. This book tries to answer the question how you rebuild yourself when people you judged to be trustworthy were capable of betraying and hurting you so fundamentally.