We've all been there: one minute you're in a loving relationship, or maybe just on your third date with a guy who's not too weird, the next minute you've been dumped. Now you're a reject, choking back the sobs as you trundle home alone.

If Dumped was a kingdom, Alexandra Heminsley would be its queen. She's been dumped in a restaurant, dumped in a stairwell, dumped in a graveyard - the locations changed but the excruciating pain stayed the same. Now, in this intimate and witty memoir, she shares her experiences, taking us on a laugh-out-loud journey from her initial helpless dejection to the rebound fling and several other failed relationships that finally set her on the road to recovery. She shares the insights she gathers along the way, from what heartache does to your hormones, to what he really means when he says, 'It's not you, it's me', as well as what notto do with your hair when you've been dumped. And, of course, the best way to utilize the healing power of songs - after all, no one wants to get stuck in the Mary J Blige Contemplative Stage for too long, but woe betide the gir who attempts the Eurvthmic's 'Thorn In Mv Side' too soon.

Introduction

1 Getting Dumped

2 You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Dumps You:The Heartbroken in History

3 The First Twenty-Four Hours

4 The First Twenty-Four Hours (of War):Lily's Battle Tactics

5 The Rebound

6 Drunk on Love: The Science of Heartache

7 The Hermit Phase

8 I Will Survive: The Healing Power of Music

9 Dumping DNA

10 We Need to Talk: What He Says vs What He Means

11 Dumped from Celebville

12 The Departure Lounge

13 The Happy Ending

Acknowledgements