Statistics show rising divorce and fractured partnerships, but conceal another story: those that last happily. How such couples achieve their happiness has remained their secret - until now. Janet Reibstein, an internationally known psychologist with an emphasis on couples, has talked in depth to over 200 couples whose partnerships are happy and enduring. Here she flings open the curtains covering private relationships: both partners in couples married and unmarried, gay and straight, talk candidly and profoundly about their lives together. They tell hidden tales of success: what's worked, what hasn't; what problems crop up, how they've overcome them; the importance or not of commitment, monogamy, sex, romance, pleasure, perspective, autonomy and independence, and of children (both joint and from previous relationships), friends, relatives, ex-partners and in-laws. The nitty-gritty of real life emerges, yielding simple rules for how to conduct relationships to maximize their potential for happiness. The book will unearth many surprises. By telling secrets, large and small, up to now locked away behind private doors, by deconstructing how couples do it, in simple layman's terms filtered through the eyes of an relationship expert, this book convinces that life-long love is a real, achievable possibility.

Author Biography

Janet Reibstein is a university lecturer, clinician, writer and broadcaster on the psychology of relationships. She has written three previous books about relationships, marriages and family. An American, she lives in the UK with her husband and two sons, and currently teaches at the University of Exeter. Her last book, Staying Alive: A Family Memoir, was published by Bloomsbury in 2002.