Marriage

"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages," said philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The texts in this collection depict happy and unhappy marriages—and those that fall somewhere in between.

Message In A Bottle

by Nicholas Sparks

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Grief, Fate, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hope, Loneliness, Memory, Regret, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Self Discovery, Loyalty & Betrayal, Truth & Lies

Tags Romance, Southern Literature

Message in a Bottle (1998) is the second novel by Nicholas Sparks, the follow-up to his incredibly popular romance, The Notebook. It was inspired by Sparks’s father’s experience after the sudden and unexpected death of Sparks’s mother. They’d been married for 27 years when an accident on a horse led her to develop a cerebral hemorrhage. It was a fluke, a random accident, just like the one that claims Catherine’s life and that of her... Read Message In A Bottle Summary

Middlemarch

by George Eliot

Publication year 1871

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, Community, Social Class

Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History, Romance, Victorian Era

Middlemarch or Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a Victorian realist novel by George Eliot (the penname of Mary Ann Evans). Published over the course of 1871-72, the novel depicts the trials and tribulations of life in the small English town of Middlemarch. The novel has been hailed as one of the greatest works of English literature and has been adapted for radio, television, theater, and opera. Other works by Eliot include The Lifted... Read Middlemarch Summary

Mildred Pierce

by James M. Cain

Publication year 1941

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Social Class, Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Mental Health, Marriage, Gender Identity

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Relationships, Parenting, Social Class, Business & Economics, Finance, Great Depression, American Literature, Love & Sexuality, Gender & Feminism, World History, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

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Moll Flanders

by Daniel Defoe

Publication year 1722

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Good & Evil, Marriage, Social Class, Colonialism, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Gender Identity

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History

Published in 1722, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe tells the life story of a woman who carves her own path through late 17th-century England and North America. Like Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe, this work also tells the tale of a singular individual who overcomes adversity—in her case, extreme poverty—to become considerably wealthy. Moll Flanders is a wife, a thief, a sex worker, and an impresario. She is... Read Moll Flanders Summary

Mr Stink

by David Walliams

Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Forgiveness, Loneliness, Coming of Age, Appearance & Reality, Family, Marriage, Mothers, Siblings, Social Class, Community, Justice

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Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare

Publication year 1598

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Love, Marriage, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Classic Fiction, Elizabethan Era, Comedy & Satire, Modern Classic Fiction, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Social Class, Gender & Feminism, Renaissance, Education, Education, Romance, Humor

Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy dating from the mid-career period of William Shakespeare was probably written just prior to 1600. The play has the trappings of a theatrical farce with its use of assumptions and misunderstandings. Main characters Benedick and Beatrice are duped into announcing their love for each other while Claudio is fooled into spurning Hero at the altar when he mistakenly believes that she has not been faithful to him. The theme of lovers being tricked... Read Much Ado About Nothing Summary

Murder at the Vicarage

by Agatha Christie

Publication year 1930

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, Social Class, Justice

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Classic Fiction, British Literature

Published in 1930, Murder at the Vicarage is Agatha Christie’s first novel featuring the elderly detective Miss Marple. The character first appears in a 1927 short story entitled “The Tuesday Murder Club.” In Murder at the Vicarage, unpopular bully Colonel Protheroe dies from a gunshot wound in the study of St. Mary Mead’s Vicarage. All suspects have an alibi, including the victim’s wife and her lover, who each admits guilt to divert suspicion from the... Read Murder at the Vicarage Summary

New from Here

by Kelly Yang

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Love, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Place, Equality, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Safety & Danger, Race, Mothers, Siblings, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Social Class, Community, Nation, Regret

Tags Race & Racism, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

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Nine Parts of Desire

by Geraldine Brooks

Publication year 1994

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Government, Femininity, Gender Identity, Marriage, Community

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Gender & Feminism, Politics & Government, Sociology, Women`s Studies, World History, Travel Literature

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Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen

Publication year 1817

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Social Class, Marriage

Tags Classic Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Satirical Literature, Gothic Literature, Coming of Age, British Literature, World History

Northanger Abbey is an early novel by Jane Austen. Though it wasn't published until after her death in 1817, Austen wrote the novel in 1803, intending it as a satire of the gothic novels that were popular during this period. Northanger Abbey follows the life and loves of its unlikely heroine, seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a naïve young woman away from her family for the first time and trying to navigate the world and the heart—with... Read Northanger Abbey Summary

Notes on Being a Man

by Scott Galloway

Publication year 2025

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Apathy, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Hope, Joy, Loneliness, Love, Memory, Nostalgia, Regret, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Race, Sexual Identity, Aging, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Midlife, Death, Future, The Past, Appearance & Reality, Food, Nature Versus Nurture, Daughters & Sons, Family, Fathers, Friendship, Grandparents, Marriage, Mothers, Siblings, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Economics, Education, Immigration, Politics & Government, Fame, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger, Science & Technology, Trust & Doubt, Wins & Losses

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