Married: A Predicament

The beloved novelist and observer of modern women's lives offers a wise and bittersweet defense of the joys of married life. Since she first gave voice to the struggles of a generation of women with Up the Sandbox, Anne Roiphe has been a unique chronicler of how we live in relationships and in families. In Married, Roiphe offers an elegant defense of married life from the wry perspective of a wife and mother who survived the 1950's, the sexual revolution, and the women's movement. Drawing upon a captivating range of examples from history, literature, and popular culture--ranging from Jane Austen's Emma to Bill and Hillary Clinton--as well as her own two marriages, Roiphe looks at the state of wedded union from an emotional as well as a social perspective. With her trademark blend of wit and wisdom, she explores such questions as why we have marriage, the stresses that threaten a marriage, what marriage asks of us, and what marriage gives to us. Just as she won women's hearts by celebrating the neglected joys of motherhood in Fruitful (shortlisted for the National Book Award) , Roiphe is certain to capture a wide audience with her passionately affirmative answer to the basic question we ask about marriage. Does she think it's worth it? In Married Anne Roiphe answers with a resounding "I do."