As Time Goes By: Boomerang Marriages, Serial Spouses, Throwback Couples, and Other Romantic Adventures in an Age of Longevity - Hardcover

Trafford, Abigail

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465002803 ISBN 13: 9780465002801

Publisher: Basic Books, 2009

Synopsis

People today are living longer and healthier lives than at any other time in history with profound implications for the nature of their romantic relationships. In this inspiring new book, best-selling author Abigail Trafford describes how people over fifty are rewriting the script of love and in the process redefining the institution of marriage for future generations. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of men and women, married and single, gay and straight, she shows how the unprecedented period of vitality after midlife but before traditional old age is much more complicated romantically and sexually than those glossy images of gray-haired people on the beach would suggest. And she reveals how today's fifty-plus men and women are raising the bar on marital satisfaction. They are more likely to break up an unhappy liaison than previous generations; and they are more freewheeling in finding new formulas for romantic satisfaction.

Trafford deftly narrates what it means to love and be loved in the decades after midlife and she offers solutions to the most common problems that define this time of life. Whether she's shedding light on retired-spouse syndrome,” sharing stories of sexual turmoil, explaining how to plan a marital time-out or navigate the troubled waters of divorce, Trafford's wise and compassionate counsel is imbued with her signature warmth and reassurance. As Time Goes By is an urgently needed guide to the pursuit of love and happiness in this dynamic stage of life.

About this title

About the Author

Abigail Trafford, an award–winning journalist, is a columnist and former health editor at the Washington Post . In 2007, she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Longevity at Stanford University. The author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books Crazy Time and My Time , Trafford lives in Washington, D.C.

Review

Library Journal
“[Abigail Trafford] delves into the problems of retirement and illness with compassionate insight and offers observations rather than advice. A distinctive slant on the aging process; highly recommended.”

Washington Post
“...the mood also amounts to a point of view: not rose-colored glasses but a strong, hopeful heart and an abiding belief in the power of love.”

Publishers Weekly
“This insightful book has quite a bit to say about modern relationships, young and old, the most important of which may be that falling in love at 80 is not much different from falling in love at 18.”

The Daily Sound
“There is an amazing amount of food for thought in this book. Mixing advice and societal study, author Abigail Trafford includes interviews with real people, hard research and data, and stories that will sound all-too-familiar to anyone who’s had a relationship... If you’ve ever been in love, if you are struck by the fact that the number of years you have left are fewer than the number of years you’ve lived, or if you’re looking anew at an old relationship, you need this book. As Time Goes By is simply engaging.”

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0465002803
• ISBN 13: 9780465002801
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288