The Actual One: How I Tried, and Failed, to Avoid Adulthood Forever

A hilarious, razor-sharp debut memoir about the moment when you realize that your friends have all grown up and left you behind, for readers of Caitlin Moran’s How To Be A Woman, Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, and Kelly Williams Brown’s Adulting.

Isy Suttie wakes up one day in her late twenties to discover that the deal she’d struck with her friends, to put off growing up for as long as possible, had been entirely in her head. Everyone around her is suddenly into mortgages, farmers’ markets, and going off the Pill, rather than running naked into the sea or getting hammered in a country pub with eighty-year-old men.

After a particularly crushing breakup precipitated by Isy’s gifting of a human-size papier-mâché penguin to her boyfriend, her dearest friend advises Isy not to worry: the next guy she meets will be The Actual One.

Heartened by this promise, Isy decides to keep delaying the onset of adulthood, whether that means standing on the side of a highway in nothing but an old fur coat and sneakers, dating a man who speaks only in rhyme, or conquering her fears of Alpine skiing by wildly overestimating her athletic ability. Insightful and laugh-out-loud funny, The Actual One is an ode to the confusing wilderness of your late twenties, alongside a quest for a genuinely good relationship . . . or at the very least, a good story to tell.

• British Humor: From drunkenly skinny-dipping in the Celtic sea to navigating the politics of a New Year’s piss-up in Wales, Isy’s voice is painfully relatable and undeniably funny.
• Feeling Left Behind: A painfully funny look at that moment you realize all your friends are suddenly into mortgages and farmers’ markets while you’re still trying to delay adulthood for as long as possible.
• The One vs. The Actual One: After a crushing breakup—precipitated by the gifting of a life-sized papier-mâché penguin—Isy is promised her next love will be "The Actual One." This is the hilarious story of trying to find him… or at least avoid him for a while.
• Laugh-Out-Loud Funny Stories: Featuring tales of dating a man who only speaks in rhyme, waging war with a faulty bikini bottom in Slovenia, and the politics of making a fry-up pie.

Isy Suttie wakes up one day in her late twenties to discover that the deal she’d struck with her friends, to put off growing up for as long as possible, had been entirely in her head. Everyone around her is suddenly into mortgages, farmers’ markets, and going off the Pill, rather than running naked into the sea or getting hammered in a country pub with eighty-year-old men.

After a particularly crushing breakup precipitated by Isy’s gifting of a human-size papier-mâché penguin to her boyfriend, her dearest friend advises Isy not to worry: the next guy she meets will be The Actual One.

Heartened by this promise, Isy decides to keep delaying the onset of adulthood, whether that means standing on the side of a highway in nothing but an old fur coat and sneakers, dating a man who speaks only in rhyme, or conquering her fears of Alpine skiing by wildly overestimating her athletic ability. Insightful and laugh-out-loud funny, The Actual One is an ode to the confusing wilderness of your late twenties, alongside a quest for a genuinely good relationship . . . or at the very least, a good story to tell.

“Suttie’s mix of human observation and self-examination makes her a cross between Lena Dunham and Victoria Wood. The Actual One is about the moment she realised all her friends were growing up, and the deal they’d all made to stay young for ever was only in her head.” - Sunday Times (London)

“You might know Isy as Dobby from Peep Show, but if you’ve heard her Radio 4 series Love Letters, you’ll be familiar with her charming, rambling storytelling style. It’s put to delightful effect here in a memoir about her 20s, which spans her years avoiding responsibility, chasing comedy success and her (slightly reluctant) search for “The One.” The line where she compares bums to Switzerland is still making us laugh.” - Glamour (UK)

“A very funny look at trying to avoid adulthood.” - Stylist (UK)

“A total delight: the perfect read for anyone who has ever felt frustrated and bewildered by the concept of “The One,” which is to say, probably just about everyone. Isy Suttie’s stories about dating, drinking, and disaster—sometimes all three at once—made me laugh out loud so often I annoyed the people in my immediate surroundings.” - Katie Heaney, author of Never Have I Ever and Dear Emma

“Witty, whimsical, and weird . . . Suttie’s writing style is light and creative, and both fans of this British comedian and readers looking for a smart, funny read will speed through her literary debut.” - Booklist

“An entertaining read.” - Publishers Weekly