The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family

Essential perspectives and insights to get a divorce without devastation

In The Good Divorce, author Karen McNenny shares her own divorce journey, teaching readers how to redefine relationship success and find peace in taking the best step for you and your family. She exposes how the divorce industry often sets families up to fail--from outdated FMLA policies that don't recognize divorce as a major life event, to "divorce penalties" in insurance and banking, to a legal system that incentivizes conflict over cooperation--and reframes divorce as a family evolution instead of a failure.

Above all, this book is a call to action--to reform the policies and practices that keep families trapped in destructive patterns, to challenge the assumption that divorce must be a messy event, and to create a new framework for how we handle relationship transitions. Readers will find insights and perspectives on:

• The concept of "relationship purgatory," when you want to stay, but know it isn't healthy for you or your kids
• The grief that comes from a loss of identity during a divorce
• Common mistakes before, during, and after a divorce, like offering children too many choices
• The unexpected upsides of divorce, like more personal time, focused relationship with your kids, and reinvention of self

The Good Divorce is a must-read for all partners thinking about divorce who want to avoid the all-too-common devastation of dissolving a marriage.

Author: Karen McNenny
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Published: 05/19/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.95h x 6.01w x 0.57d
ISBN: 9781394374267

About the Author

Karen McNenny is a Divorce Consultant, Mediator, and Co-Parenting Specialist who has become a leading voice in family--centered divorce reform. She founded The Good Divorce Show podcast and the Good Divorce Academy to teach couples how to divorce differently--with less despair and destruction. She is known for blending warmth, clarity, and practical strategy to help families navigate change with intention. A sought-after speaker, trusted advisor, and TEDx presenter, Karen brings more than two decades of leadership coaching and consulting experience across the nonprofit, corporate, and public sectors.