Beyond the Picket Fence. The Revelations of a Married Man and The Confessions of a Married Woman - Joseph J. Dougherty;Elaine M. Dougherty

From the outside, it looks like the perfect marriage. A beautiful young couple, child in hand, and cozy two-story rowhome. A pocketful of love and all the promise in the world.

When Joe meets Elaine at a Philadelphia union hall party, it feels like fate. But, their passionate romance takes an unexpected turn when pregnancy forces them into adulthood overnight.

Told through Joe's candid Revelations of a Married Man and Elaine's heartfelt Confessions of a Married Woman, their dual-voiced memoir pulls back the curtain on a forty-year marriage tested by infidelity and betrayal, family tragedy splashed across the front pages-and for a time-against the backdrop of murder and violence on the mean streets of Philadelphia.

In what they would later call "Seven Days in June," Joe and Elaine must decide whether love is strong enough to shoulder responsibility, fear, and the weight of family expectations. The choice they make sets them on a path neither could have imagined.

Theirs is a story about two imperfect people navigating the trials, tribulations, and experiences of a life traveled together and at times, secretly apart. When everything else seemed lost, even in the face of the unthinkable, they found forgiveness, redemption and humility, gaining a shared wisdom forged in fire--and the courage to pass it on.