Sabrana dela 8: Jedan brak

A Marriage (1941) is a novel by Pearl S. Buck about the marriage of two polar opposites. William is a wealthy, educated, cosmopolitan painter from a proud New York family; Ruth is an illiterate, God-fearing, practical farmer's daughter from rural Pennsylvania.

William falls in love with Ruth at first sight and, despite the fierce opposition of his parents, marries her and moves to Ruth's family home. The novel then follows their marriage over nearly seventy-five years—through conjugal love, the birth of children, disappointments, conflicts with family, midlife crises, and old age, while the world around them is going through two world wars.

Buck does not describe great drama; her theme is how two people who have nothing in common—except love—yet stay together. Ruth does everything: runs the farm, raises the children, supports the family, while William paints and touches neither the household chores nor the community in which they live. His love is selfish and idealized; hers is devoted and quiet. The novel doesn't ask the question of whether their marriage will survive, but why it does in the first place—and what exactly it means to love someone who is not like us.