The Undoing of My Marriage

AJ knew the honeymoon phase wouldn’t last forever, but she didn’t expect to feel like she and her husband were roommates this soon. As she navigates the disillusionment that followed her wedding day alongside early motherhood and the COVID-19 lockdown, she finds herself increasingly dissatisfied with a life she thought was supposed to bring contentment. Fantasising about other men to cope with her waning attraction to her husband, and blunting her inner turmoil with antidepressants, she tells herself her feelings are normal – after all, don’t all long-term relationships end up this way?

When she stumbles into an unexpected online connection with a man across the world, AJ can’t deny how intoxicating it is to want someone again; to feel wanted, to be seen as more than a wife and a mother. She begins to wonder: what if it’s not her marriage that’s the problem – what if it’s monogamy?

AJ comes up with a way to experience novelty and passion again without compromising the stability she has with her husband or upending their daughter’s life: an open marriage. After getting her husband on board, what initially seems like the perfect solution soon exposes cracks and vulnerabilities AJ never anticipated.

Written a few years after the author’s marriage ended but narrated through the lens of her earlier self, The Undoing of My Marriage blends raw, immersive prose with lyrical poetry originally composed in real time. An intimate exploration of female desire, identity, and modern relationships, it offers a compelling read for fans of autofiction and for anyone seeking an honest, lived account of non-monogamy and a marriage unravelling.