When 38-year-old Sophie Tanner celebrated her second wedding anniversary earlier this year, there were none of the usual trappings - no flowers or romantic meal for two; no hastily purchased card sealed with a kiss.

It’s not that her other half is remiss, but that on May 16, 2015, when the PR consultant took her vows on the steps of Brighton’s Unitarian Church, the person she swore to cherish for eternity was, well, herself.

“I literally had the idea when I was lying in bed recovering from flu and a bad relationship,” she remembers. “Everyone celebrates getting together with someone and becoming married, but there’s no milestone in society that celebrates escaping something awful or returning to your own happiness and contentment.”

Initially, Tanner’s idea was to write a book in which a woman married herself, rather than pursue such a path herself. But after two years writing and researching sologamy - people who commit to themselves - for her novel, Happily, she was sold.