“If anyone wrote eloquently and magnificently about affairs of the heart, it was Laurie Colwin.” —San Francisco Chronicle At first glance, Polly Solo-Miller Demarest appears to have it all. The only daughter of a distinguished and close-knit family, she marries a handsome lawyer named Henry (just like her father and brother) and has two adorable and well-behaved children, Pete and Dee-Dee. She lives in a comfortable Park Avenue apartment, works three days a week in a rewarding job at the Board of Education, and spends every August in Maine. People regularly tell her, with admiration and envy, that she has life aced. What no one suspects is that this perfect daughter, wife, and mother, always so eager to see to the happiness of others, would be willing to risk everything for love. From the moment she encounters his beautiful portraits in a group show, Polly cannot get Lincoln Bennett out of her mind. Soon she and the solitary, kindhearted painter are wrapped up in a deep and thrilling romance, and Polly has never felt more euphoric—or more terrified. Previously she divided women into two groups—those who have affairs and those who do not—and placed herself firmly in the latter category. How could she have been so wrong? And what does her passion for Lincoln say about the genuine pleasure she takes in her marriage and her family? A sophisticated, sincere, and ultimately hopeful novel about the search for fulfillment, Family Happiness is a testament to the clarity of Laurie Colwin’s vision and the elegance of her craft. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Laurie Colwin including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

It is an unquestionable truth, that if a man be not happy at home, he cannot be happy anywhere; and the converse of the proposition is no less true, that he who is happy there, need be miserable no where. Any attempt, however feeble, to render the domestic circle, what it ever should be, a scene of comfort, is at least benevolent. Nor is this a hopeless effort; for he who has the bible in his hand, and speaks as the oracles of God, can disclose at once, and in few words, the important secret. The principles of greatest consequence to mankind, whether we refer to science or to morals, lie not buried deep in gloom and mystery-but are to be found, like the manna of the Israelites, upon the surface of things. The secret of happiness lies folded up in the leaves of the bible, and is carried in the bosom of religion. I know of no other way to felicity, and therefore does not profess to teach any other. Let the two parties in wedded life be believers in Christ Jesus, and partake themselves of the peace that passes understanding; let them, when they become a father and a mother, bring up their children in the fear of God; and as a master and a mistress, be diligent and successful in instructing their servants in the principles of religion, and if happiness is to be found upon earth, it will be enjoyed within the hallowed circle of a family, thus united by love, and sanctified by grace.

WE were in mourning for our mother, who had died the preceding autumn, and we had spent all the winter alone in the country-Macha, Sonia and I. Macha was an old family friend, who had been our governess and had brought us all up, and my memories of her, like my love for her, went as far back as my memories of myself. Sonia was my younger sister. The winter had dragged by, sad and sombre, in our old country-house of Pokrovski. The weather had been cold, and so windy that the snow was often piled high above our windows; the panes were almost always cloudy with a coating of ice; and throughout the whole season we were shut in, rarely finding it possible to go out of the house. It was very seldom that any one came to see us, and our few visitors brought neither joy nor cheerfulness to our house. They all had mournful faces, spoke low, as if they were afraid of waking some one, were careful not to laugh, sighed and often shed tears when they looked at me, and above all at the sight of my poor Sonia in her little black frock.

True stories and practical advice for women about how to feel better today This book is for anyone who’s ever sacrificed her own happiness trying to make someone else happy . . . who’s assigned her happiness, one more time, to some future date “in a galaxy far, far away.” It’s no big deal, happiness can wait. And—duh—it does. But it doesn’t have to. With And Then I’ll Be Happy!, relationship writer and former saboteur of her own happiness, Kristen Houghton, gives women the tools they need to shake off the unhappiness epidemic.In a beguiling blend of practical advice and humor,she debunks the myths about how and when women find happiness. Houghton presents true stories of women who put their happiness on hold for different reasons, provides tips on what readers can do to avoid a similar problem, and identifies the major mindsets that keep women from happiness. With this book, women everywhere—whether in the midst of their careers, choosing to be stay-at-home moms, or caring for aging parents—can put their happiness right where it belongs: in the present.