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About The Book

IS LIVING TOGETHER THE ANSWER?

Since the late 1960s, the number of couples living together before marriage has increased significantly, as this phenomenon was thought to be the answer to obtaining a successful marriage. The theory that couples could "practice" seemed a perfect solution to an increasingly higher divorce rate. "After all," many argued, "if we live together first, we will really know if we're compatible."

Mike and Harriet McManus, co-founders of the Marriage Savers® organization, argue in this important book that theory and reality are often not the same. They take a fundamental position that one can not practice permanence, and unless a marriage is established as permanent, a couple will not approach it the same way. This significant finding has come from the McManuses' fifteen years of studying marriage and divorce and their desire to help couples build strong marriages that last a lifetime.

In the pages of this book, you will discover that the divorce rate is actually higher among couples who live together before marriage, as well as important principles that really do give couples the necessary tools for a successful marriage.

Consider this book an investment in yours or someone else's marriage. Whether you are a counselor seeking to help others in their marriage, a parent helping a child as he or she is contemplating living with someone, a pastor who needs a reliable tool to help couples in his ministry, or a person considering living with someone yourself, this book is for you!

About The Authors

Photo Credit:

Mike McManus is a Duke graduate who was Time's youngest
correspondent in 1963. He has been a nationally syndicated columnist since 1977,
whose award-winning "Ethics & Religion" column is published weekly. Mike's book
Marriage Savers inspired clergy to create Community Marriage Policies
that have reduced divorce and cohabitation rates in more than one hundred
cities. He and his wife, Harriet, cofounded Marriage Savers, Inc., to help
clergy better prepare, enrich, and restore marriages. They have personally
mentored fifty-seven couples preparing for marriage.

Photo Credit:

Harriet McManus married Mike in 1965. She was the first editor of
Marriage Savers and Mike's other books and is editor of Mike's columns.
Together they have initiated a premarital marriage ministry in their church,
Fourth Presbyterian in Bethesda, Maryland, and they pioneered the training of
Mentor Couples to administer a premarital inventory. She works full-time for
Marriage Savers as a writer, editor, and trainer. She and Mike have three sons
and six grandchildren.

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