Susan Shapiro Barash, "Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships Are Mended Or Ended" (Meridian Editions, 2025)

When life gets hard, we turn to our female friends. Husbands, partners, and jobs come and go, but close friendships are our bedrock. Until they're not.

What happens when these bonds sabotage instead of support? Who among us has the courage to walk away? And how can we protect ourselves from further heartbreak?

In Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships Are Mended Or Ended (Meridian Editions, 2025) Susan Shapiro Barash takes a deep dive into the complexities of female friendships. By peeling back the societal narrative that our friendships are meant to last forever, she uncovers a more nuanced reality: the closest bonds do falter. Through groundbreaking research and 150 interviews with women ranging in age from 20-80, Barash reveals an emerging trend - estrangement among female friends.

Estranged is an eye-opening investigation/practical guide for women navigating murky waters of suboptimal friendships. The book sheds light on unspoken pain of estrangement - both for the "estranger" who walks away and the "estrangee" who is left behind. Amid candid confessions of betrayal and grief, Barash challenges women to reimagine their friendships and take the bold step of letting go when necessary.

This cutting-edge book offers an empowering path forward: learning to prioritize self-worth, stability and authenticity over loyalty to friendships that no longer serve us.

Susan Shapiro Barash has written more than a dozen nonfiction books including Tripping the Prom Queen, Toxic Friends and You're Grounded Forever, but First Let's Go Shopping. For more than 20 years she taught gender studies and Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught creative nonfiction at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. Her fiction is published under her pen name, Susannah Marren.

Deidre Tyler, PhD - Sociologist, Instructional Technologist.

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