'Here's the perfect bedside book for an age like our own, when everything is known and nothing is understood. Roiphe takes the prism of the past and turns high gossip into cultural insight ... At the end of her book we feel we know these couples as intimately as if we were part of their circle' Tina Brown, NEW YORK TIME BOOK REVIEW ** 'Elegantly written ... Roiphe has a sharp way with a phase ... [an] artful selection of quotes' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Roiphe takes a lively - if self-confessedly un-academic - approach in her biography ... her flair for detail makes for an engrossing peek into these unconventional family lives' DAILY MAIL ** 'Roiphe works her way "inside" each marriage ... UNCOMMON ARRANGEMENTS will teach you many things, none of them comfortable' LITERARY REVIEW ** ' Roiphe has managed to concoct these stories so artfully that they read like a novel while feeling entirely real. It is a vibrant, compelling portrait of these people's inner lives, and positively fizzes with scandal and emotion. You don't get the sense that she ahs taken any liberties with her subjects; her research is meticulous ... A marvellous parade of old-fashioned British eccentricity ... Deliciously addictive reading. Is this a form of intrusive literary voyeurism? Probably. But when it's this good, who cares?' Viv Groskop, OBSERVER ** 'Roiphe's admirably concise book brilliantly captures the self-consciousness of the Modernist age ... An elegant and pacy narrative' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Katie Roiphe is an important voice in non-fiction. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Esquire, Harper's and The New Yorker. She has also written widely for the UK press.