Domestic Affairs

An unforgettable collection of essays on the everyday thrills and challenges of marriage and motherhood, from one of America's best-loved memoirists

Witty and insightful, Domestic Affairs is an extension of Joyce Maynard's celebrated, widely syndicated newspaper column of the same name that ran from 1984 to 1990. Each essay gives an unfiltered look at the ups and downs of family life and a remarkable window into the challenges of modern motherhood. Topics range from babysitter woes to family visits to coping with a child's burgeoning independence. These collected writings represent nine years' worth of stories about the greatest adventure of Maynard's life, or, as she writes, "the difficult, exhausting, humbling, and endlessly gratifying business of raising children, of ensuring the health of both body and soul."