“Adultery — a subject that is as old as the hills? Not entirely. Adultery only emerged with the advent of its opposite, fidelity, which was not established until fairly recently in the development of the species. “Modern changes in behaviour and the sexual liberation that followed it have practically removed all content from the concept of adultery. Relations between partners in a couple are no longer regarded today as they were in the past, yet they are still governed by an implicit pact of fidelity. It is this pact that provides the background against which adultery may eventually occur. Adultery's new status serves the author as a springboard for a highly original exploration of the way in which men relate to women and women to men. “Should any understanding between the partners then be regarded as impossible, and should the couple that they have tried to create be viewed as necessarily precarious? What are the partners waiting for to continue their search for a new partner, after having held the conviction that they had found him or her? “Perhaps the answer lies in their distant childhood, for which they grieve more than ever? How can infants and children be protected from the misadventures that threaten their future development?” writes Aldo Naouri. What do they want? What do we all want? Why does adultery still occur so frequently, despite the fact that couples today are supposed to be based on love. Is it sex? Only sex? What is at stake in relations that are not simply the result of momentary straying or of passing ardour? Are we doomed to insecure, constantly threatened unions? These are some of the questions that the well-known paediatrician Aldo Naouri examines here. He replies not only by delving into the childhood of adults but also into what those adults wish to impart to their children.

Aldo Naouri is a paediatrician specialising in intra-family relations and the author of the best-selling Les Filles et leurs mères (1998). In addition, he is the author of Le Couple et l'enfant, (1995), Questions d'enfants (1999) and Les pères et les mères (2004).