It Doesn't Cost a Dime

The Story

It Doesn't Cost a Dime is a book about the small, free things that keep a marriage alive. Not grand gestures or expensive gifts — but a hug when they walk in the door, coffee made the way they take it, putting the phone down when they're talking, and a hundred other practices that cost nothing but attention. Written in David Bishop's plain, warm, engineering-inflected voice, each of the 100 chapters is a short essay exploring one specific way to show love — followed by a single action line for tonight. Twenty-five chapters open with nameless composite scenes drawn from real marriages. The thesis is simple: marriages don't fail from lack of money. They fail from lack of attention. And one person moving first changes the house.

Major Themes