In this week's edition of Endnotes, we take a look at Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman's What to Do When You Get Dumped, a heartfelt and witty mash-up of advice and memoir about navigating romantic breakups. In its review, PW said, "For any reader reeling from a split, this is a tender embrace from someone who’s been there."

Here's how the book came together:

Suzy Hopkins

Author

“My husband left a few months before What to Do When I’m Gone came out. I remember thinking, almost as a sad little joke to myself, I should write What to Do When You Get Dumped next. That was the first inkling. Therapy helped, but two years later I still had a lot of sorrow and anger, with no road map for what came next. Writing helped me process the grief and move forward.”

Hallie Bateman

Illustrator

“After my mom had an initial manuscript, we holed up in an Airbnb for a week and shaped it into a graphic novel. For each page, we’d talk it over, think out loud, swap ideas. I’d pitch ideas, ask questions informed by my up-close knowledge of her experience, sketch to show her what I was imagining. The text would evolve to accommodate the art and vice versa.”

Kate McKean

VP and Literary Agent, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency

“I’ve worked with Hallie for 10 years. That’s resulted in six books, including What to Do When I’m Gone, the first Hallie and Suzy wrote together. This book was the option proposal for their first, which means we gave Bloomsbury first dibs. Hallie and Suzy put together some proposal materials and it was clear how this book could feel like a sibling to What to Do When I’m Gone without being derivative.”

Nancy Miller

Publishing Director, Adult Trade, Bloomsbury

“When Kate McKean got in touch with the proposal for What to Do When You Get Dumped, we were thrilled. The title said it all—and the proposal delivered; it was funny, poignant, inspiring, and beautifully illustrated. We were on board from day one. It’s magic to see the seamlessness between text and artwork.”

return to main feature.