This provocative and timely book goes beyond conservative and liberal battlesover the state of the American family and addresses the difficult question ofmarriage itself.

When is it time to say goodbye? For twelve years Ann McCray has not had a kiss from her husband or heard him say, "I love you." He has been in a coma since a tragic car accident, and now Ann is approaching forty, childless in their dream house. When she took her vows of "in sickness and in health," she never imagined this. Tom Nash has just moved in next door with his teenaged daughter. Back in his glory days, Tom knew how to pitch a no-hitter, but he's never been good with women. His purple-haired daughter Mer baffles him more than anyone. She needs some maternal guidance, and she's not getting it from her self-absorbed mother. As Ann finds herself drawn to Tom and his daughter, there may be hope for a new life with her new neighbor-if she can reconcile the dividing lines between love and loyalty.

Confirmed Bachelor Matthew Powers Was In Need Of A Nursemaid! His aunt Bess assured him that she could find a suitable woman, one who would tend the orphaned infant under his care in exchange for a paper marriage. All Matthew had to do was marry by proxy and wait for his bride to arrive…. Penniless and alone, Rose had accepted the position, but found herself unable to face her new husband. So Aunt Bess had come to the rescue again, arranging for Rose to stand in for the "temporarily detained" bride. But what would happen when the taciturn Captain Powers learned that his "houseguest" was really his "wife"? And who was going to be the one to tell him?

No one ever denied Devlin Hudson. The COO of Hudson Pictures could have any woman he wanted, but what he wanted was a woman who made no demands. He'd thought Valerie Shelton was that woman. But his prim, proper wife had walked out on their matrimonial merger, and now Devlin was pulling out all the stops to get her back. He vowed to win over winsome Val the old-fashioned way…in bed. Then he discovered his "shy" young bride had a passionate side—and a romantic agenda that would rock his world….

Miracles don’t happen to young widows in the last stages of pregnancy and working long hours to save every penny possible for when the baby arrives. Yet that’s exactly what Lindsay Donovan believes when Luke Winters shows up late one night at the café where she works and out of the blue asks her to marry him. The catch? It’s in name only. A piece of paper makes it legal, but beyond that, it’s not a match made in heaven. In fact, no sooner are they wed when the groom leaves the country for four months. When he returns the charade escalates when he proposes Lindsay and her baby visit his dying grandfather with him, to show the old man Luke’s settled for the future. Will this paper marriage implode when family dynamics take an unexpected turn?

'So compellingly personal you feel you're looking over her shoulder as she sits down to write' New York Times 'Electrically entertaining ... Funny, generous, spirited and kind' The Times This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is an irresistible blend of literature and memoir revealing the big experiences and little moments that shaped Ann Patchett as a daughter, wife, friend and writer. Here, Ann Patchett shares entertaining and moving stories about her tumultuous childhood, her painful early divorce, the excitement of selling her first book, driving a Winnebago from Montana to Yellowstone Park, her joyous discovery of opera, scaling a six-foot wall in order to join the Los Angeles Police Department, the gradual loss of her beloved grandmother, starting her own bookshop in Nashville, her love for her very special dog and, of course, her eventual happy marriage. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a memoir both wide ranging and deeply personal, overflowing with close observation and emotional wisdom, told with wit, honesty and irresistible warmth.