1.   A subplot contrasting the happier marriage between Tolstoy and the woman he married only yanks the story further out of kilter.

2.   A whole industry is based on the idea that better communication leads to happier marriage.

3.   Having shared responsibilities at various ages, they had happier marriages and families.

4.   She is far more sympathetic, humbler and warmer than Harry, perhaps partly because Eliot had himself been thawed by a second, much happier marriage.