The Undoing of My Marriage

AJ knew the honeymoon phase wouldn’t last forever, but she didn’t expect that she and her husband would feel more like roommates quite so soon. How could she have gone from being certain he was ‘the one’ to wrestling with the question she couldn’t admit out loud: Is this it?

Between the disillusionment of early motherhood and the claustrophobia of the COVID-19 lockdown, she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with a life that was supposed to bring contentment. Antidepressants and secret fantasies of other men quiet some of her inner turmoil, but after she stumbles into an all-consuming Instagram affair with a man on the other side of the world, she begins to wonder: what if her marriage isn’t the problem? What if it’s monogamy?

Desperate to experience novelty and passion again without destroying her young daughter’s stable family life, AJ proposes a radical solution: an open marriage.

Her reluctant husband eventually agrees, provided they stick to the strict set of rules she created to ensure their new lifestyle doesn’t impact their family life.

AJ soon discovers that, as a married woman on dating apps, it isn’t so easy to find the type of connection she yearns for within such constraints. Before long, lines are crossed and the rules start to bend.

As vulnerabilities are exposed and power imbalances emerge, what seemed like the answer to preserving their marriage gradually pushes AJ and her husband to their limits.

Written under a pseudonym to protect the privacy of those involved, The Undoing of My Marriage blends immersive prose with evocative poetry originally composed in real time to offer a rare perspective on non-monogamy. Intimate, raw and brutally honest, it explores female desire, maternal identity and the messy reality of a marriage unravelling.

For readers of raw autofiction, contemporary domestic drama and emotionally complex relationship narratives.