From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriageabout those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding. Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty yearsforty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of lovethe ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it's over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife's family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of weddingbeach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddingsand has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: ';A Diamond Is Forever.' And that line changes everything. A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the wayfor better or for worsethese glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.This ebook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.