“Leah Fisher’s description of her decision to spend a year traveling without her husband, and how that led to rekindling her affection for Charley and her passion for life, is encouraging. If more couples in their middle-aged years knew it was possible to separate on good terms for a specific purpose and a pre-determined amount of time, the divorce rate among long-term marriages would likely decline significantly… In My Marriage Sabbatical: A Memoir of Solo Travel and Lasting Love, Leah takes the reader on a journey to several cultures, where she makes friends with the children she encounters, leading her to consider herself a global grandma. Her efforts to mitigate the profound suffering she witnesses in her travels is commendable. She creatively reaches out to partner with others to provide simple but effective resources to help children cope with the enormity of losses in their families and communities. In doing so, she joins a global network of disaster response personnel who volunteer in the devastated communities left behind by calamities of nature.”

“A marriage sabbatical! What a brilliant idea! With courage, goodwill, psychological know-how, and a golden, wide-open heart, psychotherapist Leah Fisher dared to propose, negotiate, and carry out a year off from her thirty-year marriage, and managed to enrich herself, her marriage, and the people she met in her travels. Readers will be captivated by this bold, original, audacious experiment, colorfully described with zest, a shrewd, observing eye, and breathtaking honesty.” 

“Leah Fisher tells a tale of two fascinating journeys. The first involves a negotiation with her husband that reshapes their marriage. The second journey includes charmingly described accounts of living in a series of Asian and Latin American cultures. Both parts of this unusual exploration are beautifully written. My Marriage Sabbatical has much to teach us about the challenging but rewarding opportunities for partners to follow their independent dreams within long-term marriages.”

“Long a trusted source for the media on sustaining a successful marriage, Leah Fisher now brings us a kind of Eat, Pray, Love for the faithfully married set. This book is a feast of wisdom for anyone struggling to balance midlife self-expression with marital commitment, and it is essential reading for spouses considering a breakup as balm for a restless soul. Leah not only knows how to counsel couples on marriage—she demonstrates firsthand what it takes to sustain a vibrant, lifelong union.” 

“With the insights of a longtime couples therapist, the exuberance of a woman in her sixties pursuing her path, and the sensitivity of a wife committed to her marriage, Leah Fisher inspires us by sharing her solo adventures during a grown-up gap year. In Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, Cuba, and Indonesia, Fisher combines community service with exploring new cultures and making friends of all ages. This book is a dynamic blueprint for readers ready to address their own heartfelt desires.”

“Leah Fisher has written a book that will touch your heart, open your eyes, and excite your imagination. Her journey is one that many women would love to take. She and her husband reach an agreement that brings a deeply meaningful dream to life. Read this book; you may discover a dream of your own!”