Dear Arroe, Hi. 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 her provocative new book, “Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships are Mended or Ended,” (Meridian Editions) well-known gender expert and bestseller 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 aged 20 to 80, Barash reveals an emerging trend — estrangement among female friends. Examples of unhealthy friendships: 1. The Faithless Friend: Always there until a third party drives a wedge between you. 2. The Wayward Friend: Drawn to questionable or dangerous behavior. 3. The Green-Eyed Friend: Jealous and secretly rooting for your failure. 4. The Thieving Friend: Betrays you by stealing your ideas, opportunities, relationships. 5. The Disparaging Friend: Tears you down with relentless criticism disguised as “honesty.” She uncovered how these suboptimal friendships can impact mental health, why women avoid conflict even in damaging relationships, the emotional trauma of cutting ties with a friend and estrangement as a radical yet necessary act of self-preservation. Barash sheds light on estrangement—both for the “estranger” who walks away and the “estrangee” who is left behind. She 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. Barash has written several nonfiction books, including Tripping the Prom Queen, and A Passion for More: Affairs that Make or Break Us. She taught gender studies at Marymount Manhattan and has guest taught creative nonfiction at Sarah Lawrence’s Writing Institute. She was featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Elle, Marie Claire, and has appeared on TODAY, Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC and as a guest on NPR and Sirius. She was a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, a judge for the International Emmys, and Vice Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. 

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