Statistics show rising divorce rates and fractured partnerships, but they conceal another story: relationships that last happily. How such couples achieve their happiness has remained their secret - until now. Janet Reibstein, an internationally respected psychologist and relationship expert, has talked in depth to over 200 couples whose partnerships are happy and enduring. Here she pulls back the curtains on relationships: both partners in couples married and unmarried, gay and straight, talk candidly and profoundly about their lives together. They tell hidden tales of success: what's worked, what hasn't; what problems crop up, how they've overcome them; the importance or not of commitment, monogamy, sex, romance, pleasure, perspective, autonomy and independence, and of children (both joint and from previous relationships), friends, relatives, ex-partners and in-laws. The nitty-gritty of real life emerges, yielding simple ideas for how to conduct relationships to maximize their potential for happiness. The book will unearth many surprises. By telling secrets, large and small, previously locked away behind closed doors, by deconstructing how couples do it, in simple layman's terms but filtered through the eyes of a relationship expert, this book convinces that life - long love is a real, achievable possibility.