Female friends are our chosen family; they can be our most important relationship and infinitely rewarding, but they can also be complicated, emotionally fraught and multilayered.

Hierarchies within friendship groups start young and can have unhelpful and long-lasting impacts on our relationship with ourselves and with others long into adulthood. Thankfully, Sunday Times bestselling author Lou Beckett has found a solution: not to become more ‘alpha’ or adopt today’s mantra of ‘not giving a f*ck’ but to find other women who care as much as she does – the ‘beta’ friends.

This audiobook charts the evolution of ‘beta friends’ in Lou’s life and why – having succumbed to much drama and heartache at the hands of alphas – she’s found friends who are happy to do away with hierarchy and reflect purposeful and intentional friendship choices.

With her trademark warmth and wit, Lou invites us to learn from her mistakes and in doing so evaluate our own friendships and how they form who we are and who we are becoming.

Lou Beckett is a mother of two, ex-secondary school teacher, and wife to Rob Beckett. The (mostly) silent participant of the incredibly successful Parenting Hell podcast and author of the Sunday Times bestseller, Lessons From a Default Parent.

© 2027 Lou Beckett (P) 2027 DK Audio