What is it really like to be an only child?
In this insightful and entertaining collection, writers including Judith Thurman, Kathryn Harrison, John Hodgman, and Peter Ho Davies reflect on a lifetime of being an only. They describe what it's like to be an only child of divorce, an only because of the death of a sibling, an only who reveled in it, or an only who didn't. As adults searching for partners, they are faced with the unique challenge of trying to turn their family units of three into units of four, and as they watch their parents age, they come face-to-face with the onus of being...

Deborah Siegel, PhD is a writer and consultant specializing in women's issues and a Fellow at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. She is co-editor of the anthology Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo and has written about women, sex, contemporary families, and popular culture for a variety of publications. She has been featured on Good Morning America Radio, CBS This Morning, and in Psychology Today, The New York Times, USA Today, Ms., Time Out New York, and more. Read more about her and Sisterhood, Interrupted at www.deborahsiegel.net.