The Museum of Marriage and Other Stories showcases characters struggling with the demands and mysteries of the solitary life, romance, and marriage. The young men of "The Balcony Scene" and "Big Rig" worry over their futures with those exotic creatures of another sex; the women in "The Marriage Museum" and "Leave Me Be!" wrestle with their emotional turmoil about their relationships. The collection's most uplifting picture of these very knotty human dilemmas comes in "Suitors," where a young woman must choose between two equally worthy men. Having given her heart to a longtime but distant lover, she's unexpectedly attracted to another closer by. "That he could arouse her interest was a little thrilling but also frightening, promising in equal measures the rosy pleasures of infatuation and the torment of feeling unfaithful."

"The Museum of Marriage brims with all the complex stuff of life.  Everything is here in C.W. Smith's wonderful stories--love, lust, loss, regret, fear and cruelty, hope and redemption, and the constant struggle between our better and lesser selves.  I loved these stories, and I expect you will too.” Ben Fountain author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Brief Encounters With Che Guevarra, and Beautiful Country Burn Again.

 “In The Museum of Marriage, C.W. Smith uses the precision of a high-resolution microscope to capture with charm, wit, and love, the 1950s and relationships of couples at various stages, including three described by women. --  Nan Cuba, author of When Horses Fly and Body and Bread.

 “C.W. Smith scrutinizes motives and intimate connections in his collection The Museum of Marriage Museum and Other Stories. These nine stories, like desire itself, delight and surprise in unexpected ways. ––Lynn C. Miller, author of The Day After Death and The Unmasking

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