Making Marriage Simple: 10 Truths for Changing the Relationship You Have into the One You Want

Odd couple Hendrix and Hunt, whose groundbreaking Getting the Love You Want is wildly popular with marriage counselors everywhere, bring their Imago Relationship Therapy method and personal experiences to this easy-to-understand handbook for creating and maintaining a “Partnership Marriage.” Lightened by a cartoon couple’s relationship conversations and whimsical descriptions of personality types (e.g., the Turtle and the Hailstorm), the book advocates a relationship in which each member helps the other recapitulate and recover from the emotional wounds of childhood. The overall message—built on an enthusiastic notion of marriage as the core institution of society and following a structure of specific communication exercises—is one that divorce-happy America may not be ready to hear: “the best way to heal a relationship is not to repair the two people, but the Space between them.” Hendrix and Hunt’s focus on gentleness, reflective listening, and removing negativity forms a decidedly common-sense approach to marriage. Base this in a clear and methodical approach, and you’ve got a workable manual for couples committed to doing a better job living a modern married life—for their own sake and their partner’s. Agent: Douglas Abrams, Idea Architects. (Mar. 12)