Vow

A beautifully nuanced but likely polarizing discussion of marriage and long-term commitment as viewed through one couple's infidelities.

Monogamy is one of the most important vows we make in our marriages. Yet it is a rare spouse who does not face some level of temptation through the allure of other people. Sometimes the questions are resolved before anyone is hurt. But sometimes, as with the author's marriage, the fallout is confronted head-on when not one but both spouses cheat.

In early 2005 reporter Wendy Plump found out about her husband's second family living a mile from the home she shared with her sons in the farmlands of Pennsylvania. But the discovery followed betrayals of her own earlier in the marriage. Most discussions of infidelity focus on one side and therefore provide a skewed perspective. In this unique, 360-degree look, Plump delivers a searing, confessional story about the challenges of marriage that reads like a quiet conversation between old friends.

From the view of both betrayer and betrayed, Plump looks at the ordeal of finding out, the recovery, the ebb and flow of passion, the daily play of personality that can lead to fulfillment or disillusionment, family and friends and therapists, illicit attraction, the lovers, the lies, the alibis, even the undeniable pleasures affairs gave her as a younger woman.

As she explores the wreckage of her own marriage, Plump offers a beautifully told narrative of hope, recovery and wonder for the pull of couplehood that reawakens a belief in the value of fidelity and commitment.

Wendy Plump has been a newspaper and magazine reporter for over twenty years. She has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New Jersey Monthly Magazine and has won, through The Times of Trenton, several New Jersey Press Association Awards. She lives in New Hope, PA with her sons.