Love has, quite unfairly, come to be associated in some quarters with being happy. But it is, naturally, one of the most reliable routes to misery.

We tend to treat our sadness as if it were highly unique and shameful. But as this book explains, there are some solidly founded reasons why love should be at times highly sorrowful. The good news is that by understanding our romantic troubles and griefs, seeing them in their proper context and appreciating their prevalence, we will cease to feel so alone and so cursed.

The essay is not a study in despair, it is a guide to a more consoling, humane and in its own way joyful perspective on the complexities of love.