A Celibate Season — Carol Shields

For Jocelyn and Charles, the demands of family and career mean a ten-month separation, during which they decide to communicate with one another by writing letters. Each finds this intimate and exhilarating, as they are able to reveal things that would never be spoken aloud. Yet as the months pass, their letters depict two very distinct views of their time apart and of their marriage. As the separation begins to unravel the threads that bind their marriage together, we bear witness to the evolution and eventually the breakdown of communication. For their "season of celibacy," as they originally joked, is proving to be more of a challenge than either had ever imagined, one that tests the strength of their marriage and their commitment to one another.