September Songs: The Good News About Marriage in the Later Years

(Paperback)

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Description

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, thirty years have been added to the normal human life expectancy. In September Songs, the follow-up to her bestselling Intimate Partners, Maggie Scarf investigates the surprising and profound evolution marriage has undergone in these "bonus years." In a series of intimate and provocative interviews, she delves into the lives of couples married for more than two decades and uncovers the welcome news that most couples are more satisfied in their marriages today than in their early years together. By giving voice to both their struggles and their triumphs, these husbands and wives reveal how they've balanced their emotional and physical needs with those of their partner's, and how the lessons they've learned over time have helped them find new opportunities to love, cherish, and live alongside each other in the extra years they have together.

Reviews

"[An] engrossing investigation into enduring marriage...unexpectedly candid"
-The New York Times Book Review

"Scarf is good...a probing but tactful questioner, an active listener, and even, on occasion, a quasi-therapist."
-The Washington Post

"A journalistic book...the clearest message, both from the research and the couples, is upbeat."
-The Economist

"Scarf wonderfully captures those insights that give meaning and joy to life even as the clock ticks."
-Jerome Groopman, M.D., author of How Doctors Think

Author Bio

Maggie Scarf is a journalist and the author of the bestselling Intimate Partners, among other books. A visiting fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, and a fellow of Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University, she is also a contributing editor for The New Republic. Scarf and her husband live in Connecticut.