“Good Divorces” will be published with Routledge late 2026 or early 2027
Editors: Reinekke Lengelle, Florene Ypma, & Bob Fecho
I thought a good divorce was getting along with your ex. Of course, it’s great if that is possible, but a divorce can be good in other meaningful ways. Many flourish after divorce, and the stories told here affirm this, though the transition is not simple and rarely painless.
In this book, seven authors reconstruct their stories of divorce, inviting readers to imagine how they can reimagine their stories to create hopeful futures rather than doom-filled destinies. The stories demonstrate that divorce does not have to be disastrous; divorce can be a necessary life shift that comes with surprising blessings.
While affirming that the ending of a marriage comes with loss, this book looks at divorce as a life transition, where painful challenges offer opportunities to create meaning and beauty. Divorce can be a starting point for healing and rescripting beliefs absorbed in childhood. Likewise, it can reveal unhealthy familial patterns and addictions and unconscious behaviours hidden by the culturally-sanctioned marital framework. Divorce can permit a new lease on life, with options to develop healthier habits and relationships going forward.
The book shows how writing can facilitate meaning making and be therapeutic. By rescripting our experiences using an “autoethnographic” approach, we can come home to ourselves in ways we didn’t know were possible. Readers may be inspired to change the stories they tell and believe in pursuit of their own healing. Suggestions for Writing Toward the Good Divorce are included as an Appendix.
This book is for all readers and is intended as qualitative research on divorce as well.
Cover “Fellowship” by Maria Hiske (c)
