The Amateur Marriage
Anne Tyler
Random House Publishing Group
<p>BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's <i>The Beginner's Goodbye.</i><br><br>From the inimitable Anne Tyler, a rich and compelling novel about a mismatched marriage--and   its consequences, spanning three generations.<br><br> They seemed like the perfect couple--young,   good-looking, made for each other. The moment Pauline, a stranger to the Polish Eastern   Avenue neighborhood of Baltimore (though she lived only twenty minutes away), walked   into his mother's grocery store, Michael was smitten. And in the heat of World War   II fervor, they are propelled into a hasty wedding. But they never should have married.<br><br> Pauline, impulsive, impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding,   cautious, judgmental, proceeds deliberately. While other young marrieds, equally   ignorant at the start, seemed to grow more seasoned, Pauline and Michael remain amateurs.   In time their foolish quarrels take their toll. Even when they find themselves,...</p>