Separation and divorce can be a gruelling experience. Spouses who once loved each other can be swept up by an adversarial system where they declare war on each other, forgetting all that was good between them and disregarding the needs of their children. It doesn't have to be that way.

When Cate Cochran and her ex-husband's marriage failed, they tried an unusual arrangement to keep their family together. They share a house. Cate's ex-husband lives upstairs, she lives downstairs, and their young children and dog float between them. It is unorthodox, but they discovered that they are part of a growing number of couples who, for the sake of their children, are creatively reconfiguring their families.

This book explores the lives of ten "successfully failed" marriages where the parents have done all they can to reconfigure their families after divorce in order to protect their children.