In the fifties, Elizabeth Simpson came of age in the embrace of a close-knit family, a world in which her parents' vibrant marriage and all the messages of home-economics classes led her to expect a devoted husband and many children. In the sixties she worked to put her first husband through college until his career was finally launched and they might begin a family. In the seventies she was swept away by a flamboyant man who was eager to have children but equally eager to indulge in sexual adventures outside their marriage. In the nineties, beyond the dream of motherhood, she confronted a life-threatening illness and unexpectedly found joy in a third marriage, in a late-blooming career, and in a resilience born of experience.

One Man at a Time captures the often extraordinary events of an ordinary woman's life -- indeed of many women's lives -- with generous insight and unforgettable perception: a girl's-eye view of a father's infatuation with his wife; an attempt to get pregnant with the best science available thirty years ago; what to wear when confronting a husband's mistress. Each relationship colored her life with distinct joys, sorrows, and lessons, and each was influenced by the expectations and sexual politics of the times. For those who travelled the same path, especially women in their forties and fifties, this poignant, often gently humorous work resonates with familiarity and truth.