Dear Prudence

Collected wisdom from the internet's best-loved advice columnist.

I recently learned from one of my co-workers that my boss gathered everyone together after I was hired and told them that I was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, which isn't true - I'd been very clear that I'm a trans man who uses male pronouns. How should I handle this?

My husband keeps leaving his toenail clippings around the house. I've started slipping them into his coffee cup. Is there a better solution?

I think I'm in love with my brother's wife. How do I handle this?

A collection of the weirdest and wildest questions sent to Slate's agony aunt, internet darling Daniel M. Lavery, whose sympathetic, thoughtful, good-humoured advice is read by millions.

Featuring new material as well as fan favourites, this is a must-have for Dear Prudence fans and a dose of good sense, compassion, and understanding in an increasingly fractured world.

'For five years Daniel Lavery wrote the popular advice column Dear Prudence for the online American magazine Slate which attracted an enthusiastic audience ... Lavery's compassionate and idiosyncratic reflections thrust him into the public limelight. Dear Prudence is a collection of the weirdest and wildest questions, including privacy violations by a spy-cam wearing cat, sent to the column, and a reflection by Lavery on how his public gender transition and split from his religious family impacted on the advice he gave. Often funny and insightful, Dear Prudence is also quite poignant and moving at times.'

-Jeff Popple, Canberra Weekly

'Slate's advice-giving Prudence fields questions about relationships, work dilemmas, social faux pas, and just about everything else. Lavery was the fourth Prudence ... Under his tenure, Prudie's advice was modern and informed but presented with enough of the gentility and clever turns of phrase of the classic advice-givers to endear the column to a wide readership. Collected here are some of his favourite letters with notes on those that kept him up at night, those he wished he'd answered differently, and those he still hopes had happy endings. The collection is organised thematically, and Lavery winds his own life experience through the commentary, including his estrangement from his family and his gender transition ... Across the board, this retrospective is entertaining and comforting. Answers for those hurting are affirming, gentle, and knowledgeable, but for those on the other side, his wit is on full display and his biting responses satisfyingly pull no punches.'

-Booklist

'Reliably entertaining ... Lavery replied with wit and empathy and as you read more letters, you learn more about Lavery himself.'

-Prudence Wade, The i