Moving home self-help book

Posted by Ellie Omahoney at 15:30 on 14 Jul 2009

• Print
• Share
• Comment

As part of my job on the marie claire features desk, I keep track of forthcoming books that I think would make a good feature in the magazine. This is a responsibility that brings great perks. Oh yes, in the past month, book publicists have sent me literary masterpieces such as My Word Is My Bond – Roger Moore’s autobiography, and How To Spend Less Without Being Miserable by the international bestselling author (who knew?) Richard Templar.

Anyway, today in my little pile of treats was a book called What Do You Want From Me? Learning to Get Along With In-Laws by one Terri Apter.

Chapters include The Inescapable Power of In-Laws, Why Does It Go Wrong? And Is Any Of This My Fault?

Terri Apter, I thought, where have you been for the past three months?

Unfortunately, though, the focus of said tome is very much on mother-in-laws. No use to me. My mother-in-law is very jolly, lives a safe 52 miles away in Oxford and always remembers my birthday.

Where’s some father-in-law/daughter-in-law self-help when you most need it? I pored over the pages and found just one pearl. ‘A father-in-law expects that his position in the family will be respected.’ Wise words, I thought. I’m not sure how to put them into practice but I can definitely spend time thinking them over.

However, some way into the book I came across something that spoke to me. ‘Investments in a young couple’s future often yield high returns. Whether you support their education or provide a place to live in your home, such support enhances their chances of accumulating human capital – that is the skills, experience, and knowledge that facilitate careers.’

Mysterious. I’m not exactly sure what Terri’s talking about, but I think she’s saying that if I carry on living with F-i-L, I’ll wind up with a promotion and maybe a payrise. Hooray! Clever old Terri Apter. Easy for her to be positive, though. I bet she wasn’t living with her father-in-law as her fourth decade loomed into sight.

• Next entry
• Previous entry