Most of us manage to be monogamous, most of the time. But most of us also know that adultery is the 'crime' we could imagine ourselves committing. But does being 'faithful' mean the same to everyone? Why DO people have affairs? Using real-life testimony from those who have 'cheated' and those who have been cheated on, alongside the most up to date research, this book looks at the big questions around love and commitment. Kate Figes shows how in our progressive times monogamy has become the new ideal. Absolute fidelity in sexual love, above all, now stands as the primary symbol of commitment. But that has created new problems: increasing the allure of the affair, exacerbating the need for deceit; making trust harder; and highlighting the shame and the wounds of betrayal. This book lifts the taboos, asks the tough questions, suggests that we can survive an affair and that it can lead to a better understanding of ourselves and our relationships. Monogamy is possible and many couples manage it either throughout their relationship or for long periods of time. But for the countless others a more honest and humane public debate around the subject of infidelity is essential . Our Cheating Hearts, by the author known and respected for charting the emotional territory of relationships, is that book.

These days, many of us enjoy unrivalled freedom and equality when it comes to choosing and building a relationship. Yet new myths about how to live and love compromise that happiness. Kate Figes argues that, whether married or cohabiting, gay or straight, remarried or a couple living apart, the quality of our intimate relationship is fundamental to our long-term health and happiness, because our need for commitment and love hasn't changed. This is not a handbook. There are no easy 'Mars and Venus' universal recipes for success, because relationships are far too complicated, individual and important for easy answers. But learning how others sustain lifelong love, and what really goes on in other people's lives can help us to understand our own partnerships and take responsibility for making them work. Couples is an incisive and important look at how we can learn to make love endure.

Some readers will have already met GP Sue, her daughters Frankie and Lola, her husband Matthew, and their unexpected surprise addition to the family, Tom. In this delightful sequel, we are a year on... Sue is a GP, her busy life filled with demanding but lovable patients, demanding but lovable children, a husband, and a new dog. But she has just enough time to notice the rather gorgeous neighbour who walks his black lab in the park. Frankie is about to do her GCSEs, and is absolutely certain that no-one is as stressed as she is, nor as in love, nor as confused. Lola is eleven, and endearingly aware of those around her, including all her friends (and whether they are, or not), her Granny, her pain-in-the-neck but scrumptious new baby brother, and the fact that her Dad is spending a lot of time texting. And when she sneaks a peek at his calls, there are far too many to someone called Laura. Suddenly, Lola feels overburdened with guilt and responsibility, so just what is she to do? WHAT ABOUT ME, TOO? is a searingly honest account of life in a normal London household, of how perceptive children can be, and how the dismantling of a marriage can be both devasting and liberating at once. 'An uproarious read that will have women everywhere nodding in wry recognition' You Magazine 'Funny, touching and all too familiar' Woman & Home

Coming up to her sixtieth birthday, Kate Figes found herself turning to the larger questions of family, love and life's meaning. It is like this author to examine different stages in writing, and her books - from new motherhood and adolescence to coupledom and infidelity - testify to this way of understanding herself and others: so naturally she turned to writing to explore the challenges of becoming sixty. And then - a horrible, and sudden diagnosis of breast cancer which had metastasised. Instead of a gentle journey into middle age, Kate Figes began to write for her life. Now, clawing back confidence and control was not just the ordinary business of these years: it was the only way to try and survive great pain and emotional turmoil. As her writing became an honest reflection on ageing, failing, regrets and the importance of childhood memory, friends, family and love she found a new determination to live to the full and about finding ways to face up to a shortened life expectancy with dignity. Original, passionate, funny and moving, On Smaller Dogs and Larger Life Questions will resonate with anyone dealing with the many griefs and freedoms of midlife. It is about living with a life-threatening disease but it is even more: an intelligent and passionate look at the way we can approach disappointment and trouble, friendship and love - every day.