I had grown up with the fairly unshakable conviction that relatives were irretrievably problematic things, and that, in general, they were best avoided. I had good reason to think this way.

My grandmother had an awkward relationship with her mother, just as my mother endured a difficult relationship with her. My parents were spectacularly mismatched but stayed married - against my grandparents' gloomy predictions - for a full 10 years before going their separate ways.