Unruly, unpredictable, love is a maddening deity. In this insightful and eloquent meditation on that many-splendored thing, Lisa Appignanesi draws on history, philosophy, psychology, literature, popular culture, and her own experience in order to tangle with love's paradoxes through the span of our lives.

Beginning with the rose-tinted raptures of first love, she proceeds to love in marriage, the passions of triangulated love, jealousy and adultery, love in the family, and friendship, illuminating the expectations, the joys and difficulties that accompany each stage.