The Long Game of Joy: A Playbook for Grace, Faith, and Forgiveness in the First Year of Marriage

Anna Elkins has the ability to capture a world of emotion, turmoil, joy, and hope in just one sentence. In her newest book, The Long Game of Joy, she tells the story of her first year of marriage with a mix of disarming transparency and delightful self-awareness that only serves to elevate the magic and mystery of love. This is the book for those who suspect that true love still exists, but it is messier, sturdier, and yet more beautiful than the fairytales have led us to believe.

-Bo Stern-Brady, author of Beautiful Battlefields

The Long Game of Joy is the book I wish I could have read before I said "I do." It's a blend of memoir, manual, and meditation; interwoven within the story of our first year of marriage, you'll find practical advice from savvy relationship experts and bits of poetry for those moments when no practicalities will do. You'll encounter a wild mix of the sacred and mundane-the Enneagram, rivers, the wound-that-heals-us, RITZ-cracker communion, the True Self, corn dogs, and a key thing called zimzum. This is a playbook for couples looking to up their game by practicing grace to live in gratitude, faith to trust, and forgiveness to love. May we celebrate marriage in all its mud and wonder, all its stains and stars. Here's to the learning curve of love for the win.