This memoir of notches not carved is surprisingly readable, displaying a melancholy tenderness and candid self-awareness rarely found in confessional writing ... Chastened feels like a genuine attempt to find a solution to a loveless life, and articulates the thoughts of many single women with a purposeful freshness
Ariane Sherine
Observer
Her book is tender, clever, heartbreaking and funny ... every single woman and man should read it before even thinking of going on a date again
Katy Guest
Independent on Sunday
Fascinating, revealing and bravely honest work...Anderson focuses on the much-maligned concepts of love, courtship and the intimacies of chastity
Paul Blezard
The Week
In the course of this sexless year, she flirts, texts and (platonically) romps her way through innumerable encounters...however with Chastened you get what it says on the cover: no Sex in the City
Melanie Mcgrath
The Scotsman
Chastened is more than fashionable dinky. One hopes that Anderson will write the novels that are evidently within her
Independent
Much ado about nothing...but comic and honest piece written by Anderson herself
John Crace/Anderson
The Guardian
Thoughtful and insightful. Anderson manages to avoid the expected clichés and monotony by offering a considered combination of autobiography, psychology, feminist history, anthropology and sociology in her writing
Susan Swarbrick
Sunday Herald
The elegant prose is meandering and poetic... [Anderson] imparts her wisdom with accessible and informative references
Immodesty Blaize
Guardian
this candid account.. raises questions from a world more shocked by 'chastity' than 'pole dancing'
Emma Hagestadt
Independent
This honest account is a real eye opener
Star Magazine