The Marriage Rule A Novel

After you say, “I do,” there’s one more thing you must do…

A propulsive domestic thriller about what it takes to keep a marriage together, from “addictive” (People) author Helen Monks Takhar

Nine months into motherhood, Elle is struggling. Struggling to balance parenting with work, struggling to feel at home in her post-baby body, struggling to be intimate with her adoring husband, Dom. If Elle loves her job, her baby, and her handsome and successful husband, why does everything seem so hard, especially when Dom is such a helpful, hands-on dad to boot?

Elle turns to her charismatic new colleague Gabriel to get through the day, and a few too many glasses of red wine to soothe her at night. For a while the distractions work, until one night, she wakes up bleary-eyed in a hotel room next to a man who's not her husband. And he's dead.

Elle knows Dom is the only person who has any hope of helping her escape her hotel room a free woman, even if asking for his support now will destroy their future. Elle also knows she’d never have ended up in such trouble if she’d followed The Marriage Rule, the one thing she’s been told a wife needs to do…

Helen Monks Takhar is the author of the novels Precious You, Such A Good Mother, and Nothing Without Me. She is also joint managing director of the production company Second Generation with her husband, screenwriter and executive producer Danny Takhar. Helen worked as a journalist, copywriter, and magazine editor after graduating from Cambridge University. She began her career writing for financial trade newspapers before contributing to UK national newspapers including The Times and The Observer. She lives in North London with Danny and their two daughters.