Book Description

"Mrs Maud Churton Braby has achieved a remarkable success. She has written an original book upon the most threadbare of all subjects, in which she has been as witty as she is wise . . . packed full of good sense, sound morality, and admirable advice. It is a book naked and unashamed, written by a woman of the world with the na�ve simplicity of an innocent child, and arriving on the whole at conclusions worthy of any mother in Israel; a book full of profound wisdom irradiated by a pleasant wit and suffused with the glow of a genuine human sympathy." -Review of Reviews "On the whole I congratulate Mrs Braby on her book . . . it is the only book on the subject of Modern Marriage that has not made me feel rather ill . . . frank, without the slightest indelicacy, and bold without the least impertinence . . . a real contribution towards the solution of an intolerably difficult problem." -Sunday Chronicle ."Lively and frank . . . should prove instructive as well as readable and provide people with plenty to think about. The author has read widely, and thought deeply, and has a sufficiently broad mind to give her conclusions real value . . . should be read by all who think seriously on this most serious subject." -Daily Telegraph "A good deal of sound thinking has gone to the book's composition and it is also illumined by a very kind and tender spirit." -Standard. ."A clever and most entertaining volume . . . the reader may be assured of much that is sage and sound, and much that is witty." -Bystander "No one has gone so fully and vigorously into the various problems connected with marriage as Mrs Braby in her extremely readable book . . . one of the most vivid and original contributions to the discussion of a great problem that have appeared for a long time." -Black & White "Very brightly written, and even when most audacious is full of good feeling and good sense . . . amusing and shrewd . . . clever and stimulating." -Literary World CONTENTS PART I SIGNS OF UNREST I. The Mutual Dissatisfaction of the Sexes II. Why Men Don't Marry III. Why Women Don't Marry IV. The Tragedy of the Undesired PART II CAUSES OF FAILURE I. The Various Kinds of Marriage II. Why We Fall Out: Divers Discords III. The Age to Marry IV. Wild Oats for Wives V. A Plea for the Wiser Training of Girls VI. 'Keeping Only to Her'--The Crux of Matrimony PART III SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVES I. Leasehold Marriage � la Meredith II. Leasehold Marriage in Practice: A Dialogue in 1999 III. The Fiasco of Free Love IV. Polygamy at the Polite Dinner-Table V. Is Legalised Polyandry the Solution? VI. A Word for 'Duogamy' VII. The Advantages of the Preliminary Canter PART IV CHILDREN--THE CUL-DE-SAC OF ALL REFORMS I. To Beget or Not to Beget--the Question of the Day II. The Pros and Cons of the Limited Family III. Parenthood: The Highest Destiny PART V HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH MARRIED I. A Few Suggestions for Reform II. Some Practical Advice to Husbands and Wives