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Dolly Alderton wrote a dating column for The Sunday Times for two years, then published a memoir that, as she put it, was not really about men. Everything I Know About Love is about the women she lived with and went out with, the bad dates, and a socially disastrous Rod Stewart-themed house party. It reached the top five of the bestseller list in its first week and became a BBC One series. Her second novel is told almost entirely by a heartbroken man. This page has all four Dolly Alderton books in the order they were published, and which one to read first.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 books · 2 novels · Female authors · 2018–2023 · Updated September 2026
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Quick answer
Dolly Alderton has written four books: the memoir Everything I Know About Love (2018), the novels Ghosts (2020) and Good Material (2023), and Dear Dolly (2022), a collection of her Sunday Times Style advice columns. Everything I Know About Love is her best-known book and the best place to start: it won Autobiography of the Year at the 2018 National Book Awards and became a BBC One series in 2022.
Watch: Dolly Alderton on heartbreak, love and timelines
Quick facts about Dolly Alderton
- Born
- 31 August 1988, London, as Hannah Alderton
- Grew up
- Stanmore, north-west London
- Education
- University of Exeter (drama and English); City University, master's in journalism
- Journalism
- The Sunday Times: dating columnist 2015–2017, Dear Dolly advice column since 2020
- Podcast
- The High Low, with Pandora Sykes, 2017–2020
- Books
- Four, 2018–2023
- Publisher
- Penguin; the novels under its Fig Tree imprint
- Known for
- Everything I Know About Love (2018)
- On screen
- Everything I Know About Love, BBC One, 2022, as creator and writer
- Screenwriter
- Pride and Prejudice for Netflix (2026)
- Award
- Autobiography of the Year, National Book Awards 2018
- Also
- Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe, 2018; Women's Prize for Fiction judge, 2019
All 4 Dolly Alderton Books, in Order
Everything I Know About Love
Alderton's memoir of growing up through her teens and twenties: school, university, bad dates, squalid flat-shares, a socially disastrous Rod Stewart-themed house party, and the long friendships with women that held it all together. It became a top-five Sunday Times bestseller in its first week, won Autobiography of the Year at the 2018 National Book Awards and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. Later editions add a new chapter on everything she knew at thirty.
This is the one to start with. It is the book most people mean when they say they love Alderton, and its real subject, friendship rather than romance, runs through everything she has written since.
— LisanneGhosts
Her first novel. Nina, a 32-year-old food writer, meets someone through a dating app just as her father begins to show signs of dementia. It was a top-five Sunday Times bestseller, and the film rights were sold in the month it was published.
It takes the voice and preoccupations of her memoir, dating, family and friendship, into fiction, and the storyline about her father gives it real weight.
— LisanneDear Dolly: On Love, Life and Friendship
Letters and answers from the agony aunt column Alderton has written for The Sunday Times Style since early 2020, on break-ups and body issues, families, friendships, dating, divorce, social media, sex and loneliness, together with a new personal essay. It was a Sunday Times bestseller, and in the United States it was published as Dear Dolly: Collected Wisdom.
A good pick if you want her voice in shorter, more directly practical doses rather than a memoir or a novel.
— LisanneGood Material
Andy Dawson, a 35-year-old struggling comedian in London, is left by Jen, his girlfriend of nearly four years, with very little explanation. Most of the novel is Andy's attempt to work out why; in the final section the narrative switches to Jen. To write it, Alderton interviewed around fifteen men about heartbreak. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction.
Her most structurally ambitious book: almost all of the heartbreak is told from his side, and then the last pages turn the whole story around.
— LisanneHow Dolly Alderton Writes: Heartbreak, Told for Laughs
Alderton spent two years writing about dates for The Sunday Times, and then wrote a memoir whose real love story is between friends. That shift, from the romance everyone expects to the friendships that actually hold a life together, is the centre of her work. The dates in Everything I Know About Love go badly and are funny; the friendships are where the book stops joking.
Her novels keep the jokes and change the angle. Ghosts puts a dating-app romance next to a father's dementia. Good Material hands the whole story to a man, Andy, a comedian who cannot stop picking over his own break-up. Alderton has said she chose a male narrator to push herself as a novelist and write someone unlike herself, and she interviewed around fifteen men, many of whom told her they felt they could not talk about heartbreak with their friends for long without boring them.
Then, in the last pages of Good Material, Jen gets to speak. It is the same move as the memoir in reverse: the story you thought you were reading turns out to have another side.
Dolly Alderton's Books in Order of Publication
Nonfiction: Everything I Know About Love (2018) and Dear Dolly: On Love, Life and Friendship (2022).
Novels: Ghosts (2020) and Good Material (2023).
None of the books is a sequel, so you can read them in any order. Since Good Material, her biggest project has been television rather than a book: she wrote the Netflix series of Pride and Prejudice.
Where to Start with Dolly Alderton
If you have never read her
→ Everything I Know About Love (2018). Her breakout book, and still the one most readers mean.
If you have watched the BBC series
→ Read the memoir anyway. The series changes the names and builds a new story around two friends; the book is her own life.
If you want her fiction
→ Good Material (2023), then Ghosts (2020).
If you want her voice in short doses
→ Dear Dolly (2022), her advice columns.
If you want more memoirs like this
→ My best memoirs and biographies list, or books about love for the fiction side.
Frequently asked questions about Dolly Alderton's books
How many books has Dolly Alderton written?
Dolly Alderton has written four books: the memoir Everything I Know About Love (2018), the novel Ghosts (2020), the advice collection Dear Dolly (2022) and the novel Good Material (2023).
What are Dolly Alderton's books in order?
In order of publication: Everything I Know About Love (2018), Ghosts (2020), Dear Dolly: On Love, Life and Friendship (2022) and Good Material (2023).
Which Dolly Alderton book should I read first?
Everything I Know About Love (2018). It is her best-known book and the clearest introduction to her voice. If you prefer fiction, start with Good Material (2023).
Is Everything I Know About Love a true story?
Yes. It is Alderton's memoir of her teens and twenties, her dates, flat-shares and above all her friendships with women. The 2022 BBC One series is based on it, but it fictionalises the story around two friends, Maggie and Birdy.
Is there an Everything I Know About Love TV series?
Yes. Alderton created and wrote a series based on the book, which premiered on BBC One in June 2022 and on Peacock in the United States in August 2022. It stars Emma Appleton and Bel Powley.
What is Good Material about?
Andy Dawson, a 35-year-old struggling comedian in London, whose girlfriend of nearly four years, Jen, ends their relationship with little explanation. The novel follows his attempts to understand why, while he stays first with his mother and then with friends, and his comedy career stalls.
Who narrates Good Material?
Most of Good Material is narrated by Andy. In the final section, the narrative switches to Jen's point of view, and she explains the break-up from her side.
What is Ghosts by Dolly Alderton about?
Ghosts (2020), her first novel, follows Nina, a 32-year-old food writer who meets someone through a dating app just as her father begins to show signs of dementia.
What is Dear Dolly?
Dear Dolly (2022) collects letters and answers from the agony aunt column Alderton has written for The Sunday Times Style since early 2020, with a new personal essay. In the United States it was published as Dear Dolly: Collected Wisdom.
Who is Dolly Alderton?
Dolly Alderton is a British author, screenwriter and Sunday Times columnist, born in London in 1988. She wrote Everything I Know About Love, Ghosts, Dear Dolly and Good Material, and co-hosted the podcast The High Low with Pandora Sykes.
Did Dolly Alderton write the Netflix Pride and Prejudice?
Yes. Alderton wrote and executive produced Netflix's Pride and Prejudice series, directed by Euros Lyn and starring Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden. It was first announced in October 2024.
Is Dolly Alderton her real name?
She was born Hannah Alderton and changed her first name to Dolly in her early teens.
What is Dolly Alderton's latest book?
Her most recent book is Good Material, published in November 2023. Since then her main new project has been writing Netflix's Pride and Prejudice.
Footnotes
- Dolly Alderton — Wikipedia
- Good Material — Wikipedia
- Everything I Know About Love — Penguin
- Dear Dolly: On Love, Life and Friendship, publisher's description — AbeBooks
- Wodehouse comic fiction prize shortlist — The Guardian, 2024
- Pride and Prejudice series in development at Netflix from Dolly Alderton — Variety, 2024
Bibliography last verified 10 September 2026.
Nothing here was suggested by a machine.
I picked these ten myself,
and the reasons are on the page.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Nearly everything I know about love, I've learnt from my long-term friendships with women.”
— Dolly Alderton, Everything I Know About Love (2018)
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