"Uncoupling begins with a secret. One of the partners starts to feel uncomfortable in the relationship. The world the two of them have built together no longer 'fits.'"

How do relationships end? Why does one partner suddenly become discontented with the other - and why is the onset of that discontentment not so sudden after all? What signals do partners send each other to indicate their doubts? Why do those signals so often go unnoticed? And how do people who saw themselves as part of a couple come to terms, not just with absence and abandonment, but with a new, single identity?

This groundbreaking book, which combines extensive research with in-depth interviews, offers a startling vision of what happens when relationships come apart. What it reveals is a process that begins in secret but gradually becomes public, implicating not only partners but their social milieu. The result is an enlightening and affecting book that is invaluable both as a work of sociology and as a guide for anyone who wants to prevent - or weather - the collapse of a relationship.