i am unsure if the subtitle of this book is supposed to be sarcastic or if it’s supposed to be taken serious.
either way this book shows anything but successful marriages -so let’s hope it’s meant sarcastically!

i really enjoyed gaskells and hardy’s stories in this book.
both had an actual plot, good characters and well done writing (surprising to me in three way that just earlier today i read another short story by gaskell and did not enjoy it at all, having decided from that that she isn’t for me in short format, only to be proven wrong only hours later by this book and it’s first story!)

those two stories really showed how marriage worked back than - a younger wife that basically has no ideas what being a wife means and marrying, either through need or must of some kind, a much older man and trying to figure out what that means to her and her life.
and even though those two stories share those basic plot points and characteristics they couldn’t be more different from each other.

i do highly recommend gaskells and hardy’s stories in this but recommend leaving it at that if your are a reader possible of not finishing a book since neither of the other stories is worth the read in my option.

all of them are not well developed, written or done well in any mentionable way.