W.W. Norton has just announced my new book and released the cover and the pre-order link. Here’s the jacket description:
We hear plenty about whether or not to get married, but much less about what it takes to stay married. Clichés around marriage—eternal bliss, domestic harmony, soulmates—leave out the real stuff: after marriage you may still want to sleep with other people; sometimes, your partner will bore the hell out of you; when stuck paying for your spouse’s mistakes, you might miss being single. In Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, Ada Calhoun presents an unflinching but also affectionate portrait of her own marriage, opening a long overdue conversation about marriage as it truly is: not the happy ending of a love story, but the beginning of a challenging new chapter of which “the first twenty years are the hardest.”
Calhoun’s funny, poignant personal essays excavate the bedrooms of modern coupledom for a nuanced exploration of infidelity, existential anxiety, and the many other obstacles to staying together. This frank, provocative—but also optimistic and open-hearted—book offers a refreshing new way to think about marriage: not as a romantic fairytale or a relic doomed by high divorce rates, but as a brave, tough, creative decision to stay with another person for the rest of your life. “What a burden,” she calls marriage, “and what a gift.”
Pre-order it here. And sign up to hear about readings and book parties!
