Three friends meet to catch up and realise that their own lives, and many of the lives of those around them, are falling apart. In an effort to understand it all they decide to create a story together and Helen Rose Doherty becomes their pen name – D is a relationship therapist, H is a marketing strategist and R is a writer. They create Lily Barthes, a character who embodies everyone they know. They meet weekly to thrash out each chapter. The writer takes away the ideas and shapes the story. They argue over the manuscript whilst drinking coffee in cafes across Brighton. They laugh, cry and occasionally toast friendship, life, and coming through despair. The process of creating How Dare She? together runs parallel with the healing of the authors’ individual crises. The therapist repairs her own marriage, the businesswoman finally feels brave enough to set up her own marketing business, and the writer begins to believe in herself again. The question is, what will happen to Lily?