We’re often asked for book recommendations as there are so many books on relationships and affair recovery, some good, some not so, and if can be confusing in what will be helpful and what won’t be.
There are two books we highly recommend to the following questions.
‘our relationship isn’t working and we don’t know what to. We want to understand what makes a better relationship’
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: by John Gottman
The Gottman’s are leading experts on relationships and John has studied them for over 45 years. This book looks at the main elements learnt from studying thousands of couples and describes these principles giving you practical guidance on how improve these areas in your relationship. It’s not a large academic book but gets down to a level that makes easy to read and to use. The Gottman’s have many resources on the internet, and this is always a good place to start to build a better relationship.
‘an affair has just been discovered in our relationship. We’re struggling to know what to do and how to repair this’
Healing from Infidelity: by Michele Weiner-Davis
This book, written by someone very experienced in relationship therapy and affair recovery, is very close to the model and approach use at the Relationship Centre, and extremely helpful giving guidance how to navigate through this seemingly impossible task of recovering and rebuilding trust. It has advice and support for the person betrayed and also the person who has had the affair, in both a non-judgemental and supportive way, giving you route to travel out this pain and upset.