Short Marriage

This collection includes The Alien's Mail Order Bride, When She's Married, Pretty Human, and When She's Bold.

In this new edition, Steve Bruce discusses the continuing arguments for social egalitarianism, considering issues such as gay marriage, women in combat roles, and the 2010 Equality Act to debunk contemporary arguments against parity. As gender divisions are increasingly questioned, he looks ahead to the likely consequences of this for society.

In Polygamy: A Very Short Introduction, Sarah M.S. Pearsall explores what plural marriages reveal about the inner workings of marriage and describes the controversies surrounding it. The book emphasizes the diversity of historical polygamist societies, from the Shi'ite Muslims and Wendat men who practiced short-term marriages to the Mixteca, Maori, Inca, Algonquin, and Marta indigenous people of North America and the Pacific Islands. Pearsall also explains the divides within Christianity that led to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"Little Surrenders" is a dark, mesmerizing short story about a marriage that’s reached its breaking point, and just how far a woman will go to reinvent herself after one too many compromises.

It’s summertime in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ian has lost his job, while his wife, Parker, thrives in her e-commerce career. Parker’s days are frenetic and full. When she’s not in Zoom meetings, she’s doom-scrolling about the virus or hanging out on Houseparty with her friends. Meanwhile, Ian claims to spend his days looking for a full-time job, but he’s mostly goofing around on Tik Tok and taking their dog, Hutch, for longer-than-necessary walks. What he really wants is to start a family, but Parker still isn’t ready.

Jim Stenson has been flown to the bohemian island of Formentera for a monthlong gig: writing a screenplay for a famous Spanish director, loosely based on the classic French film Contempt. With his career flagging, Jim is determined to make the most of the opportunity. But the director raises the stakes, pushing Jim to draw inspiration for the script from his strained relationship with his wife Anna.

Who's Loving You? is a celebration of love in all its guises written by women of colour, with 10 original short stories from bold new voices, literary prize-winners and national treasures.

From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco, Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create 11 devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable transformation.

Pretending to be her boss’ mistress is one thing - but now everyone in the office thinks Harriet is Matthew Cole’s fiancée. Harriet has to keep reminding herself it’s all just for convenience - but how far is Matthew prepared to go with the arrangement?

All marriages are hard. Many of them fail. Brock Lewis, an evangelical businessman turned self-published author, has the answer. Follow his international bestselling book’s 12-point “Atomic Doctrine” - make eye contact with your spouse? Always! Use the bathroom in front of them? Never! - and you, too, can build a marriage that thrives.

As identical twins, Bothan and Calum MacNachton share a bond stronger than most brothers, one forged by a terrible secret. Rumors and dark tales have been whispered about their clan for centuries. For they roam the Highlands at night, driven by a savage hunger that can never be sated. Their only hope lies in marriage to Outsiders, mortal women whose pure blood will weaken the hold of their eternal curse.

always wondered, How does she do it? Defying gravity is no easy trick. Neither is motherhood. Now that her mother is leaving New York for bigger skies in New Mexico, it’s a new stage in life for both of them in an ever-evolving relationship that reveals the true magic of being a mother.

In Other People We Married, Straub creates characters as recognizable as a best friend, and follows them through moments of triumph and transformation with wit, vulnerability, and dazzling insight.

"You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. You see, I'm inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove, because I want you to meet my family, friends, and neighbors. Come and hear their stories - maybe even their secrets!"

Born into riches and groomed in English luxury, Margot Armstrong didn't belong in a Scottish chieftain's devil-may-care world. Three years ago she fled their marriage of convenience and hasn't looked back - except to relive the moments spent in wild, rugged Arran McKenzie's passionate embrace. But as their respective countries' fragile unity threatens to unravel, Margot must return to her husband to uncover his role in the treachery before her family can be accused of it.

This selection of stories relates the many experiences and complexities of womanhood; sometimes joyful, sometimes sad but always enriching. With stories by Edith Wharton, Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Gaskell - it includes 'Ladies in Lavender' by William J. Locke, the inspiration for the film of the same name starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Mary Moon explores the landscape of long-married life - the hidden hurts and disappointments that lead women to consider leaving, and the tender weight of shared history that prompts them to stay. In "Into the Light," a wife and mother finds the idea that she might legally choose the moment of her death comforting, but how will she balance the finality of that choice against the little joys and inevitable tragedies of living?

Recently rediscovered in the archives of the New York Public Library, these short stories provide an unparalleled look at Truman Capote writing in his teens and early twenties, before he penned such classics as Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and In Cold Blood. This collection of more than a dozen pieces showcases the young Capote developing the unique voice and sensibility that would make him one of the twentieth century’s most original writers.

When Ava Barnes’s boyfriend, Justin, proposes after a whirlwind romance, the young couple embarks on a quest that will test their love. For generations, engaged couples in Ava’s family have traveled into the Everglades to retrieve the egg of the magnificent frigate bird in order to bake it into a marriage cake. Those who succeed live happily ever after, while those who fail are destined for heartbreak. With Ava’s beloved grandmother gravely ill, never has the marriage tradition meant so much.

A short story on forbidden love. The society may frown on their relationship, but sometimes we do not choose who we love.