Ash Said It® Daily

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. 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