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Murphy – Last year, local author Abigail Hickman unsuccessfully fought to save her marriage that was ssassinated by infidelity. During the darkest bits of her grief and rage, she found herself spending a good bit of time lying on her sister’s kitchen floor drinking substantial amounts of vodka.
“I was just so stunned, so unprepared for this assault against something I loved I so much; but to see the charge led by my husband with his adulterous mistress at his side, it all felt unbearable,” she said.
Hickman said she sought help in books. “I’ve always been a hungry reader and knew that someone on the planet could offer me some kind of road map out of this dark, scary place,” she added.
However, Hickman was never able to find the book that spoke with candor or compassion. She found numerous books with a psychological slant, but nothing that considered her feeling of aloneness.
“I needed a book that outline the stages of heartbreak survival – including the missteps, as I was very good at taking missteps at the time,” she said.
So Hickman decided to write her own. “I wrote the book I needed to read in the thick of the chaos and humiliation,” she said. “I needed to feel that I was not alone.”
Savvy Girl’s Guide to Heartbreak Survival chronicles Hickman’s navigation from her sister’s kitchen floor as a brokenhearted “Savvy Girl” to a tiara-wearing “Warrior.”
Hickman said her creative non-fiction book is written to, and for, “all betrayed people; my betrayal was an unfaithful husband and a taunting mistress, but the principles apply to any type of betrayal.”
The book is peppered with unexpected humor as she refers to her husband as a “He Pig” and his relentless mistress as a “She Pig.” Hickman said she could not have made it through the battle without the wisdom and comfort offered by her girlfriends, who are called “Warriors” in her book.
“They understood when to offer me a cocktail or when to throw it in my face,” she said.
When she’s not writing books, Hickman is a staff correspondent for the Cherokee Scout. She has also created “From the Front Porch” podcasts for the local newspaper.
Savvy Girl’s Guide to Heartbreak Survival, published by Dreaming Big Publications, is available on Amazon as well as Curiosity Shop Bookstore in Murphy.