A bit about me
Hi, I’m Nella Darling – single mum, mid-life divorcée, and the woman who somehow turned awful dates and a leaky house into a book.
A few years ago, I got hit with a divorce I absolutely did not see coming. One minute I was in a marriage with a mortgage, the next I was googling “how bad is it really if the windows don’t shut?” and downloading a dating app I was far too tired for.
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I started going on dates and started coming home with stories. I told these stories to my friends, usually over wine and WhatsApp. Then one night at a party, I had a small crowd doubled over laughing while I reenacted a particularly tragic date. Someone said, “You have to write this down.” On the way home I thought, maybe I really do. That’s how this book began: as me trying to make my pals laugh through the mess.
About the book
My book, Swipe Right, Keep Left: Misadventures of Mid-Life Love, is what happens when you mix:
a surprise mid-forties divorce
​a renovation project with more attitude than the builder
a single mum trying to stay steady for her son
and a frankly unhelpful number of dating apps
It’s part dating diary, part house renovation saga, and part love letter to anyone who’s had to start again when they really, really didn’t want to.
I don’t write as a coach, a guru, or a “how to fix your life in 10 steps” expert. I write as someone who has ugly-cried in the car, laughed at the worst possible moments, and slowly built a life that feels honest, hopeful and actually quite fun.
If my stories do anything, I hope they make you feel less alone and give you at least one very undignified snort-laugh.
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When I’m Not Writing
You’ll usually find me, wrestling with a renovation spreadsheet, listening to tunes with a good book by my side, fixing squeaks and debating paint colours, people-watching in coffee shops and absolutely not judging anyone’s first date. At all. Honestly.
Preorder now
This isn’t a glossy “I smashed my glow-up” story. It’s the sweary, chaotic, laugh-so-you-don’t-cry version: the one where the boiler breaks, the roof leaks, the dating apps are a circus, and you still have to show up at the school gate like everything’s absolutely fine and you definitely didn’t cry in the B&Q car park.
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Expect bad dates, worse plastering, excellent girlfriends, a suspiciously fit building inspector, and one woman slowly realising she was the love story all along.
Freebies
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