In The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, the zones are said to correspond to Sufism's different levels of consciousness, and symbolise the "Sufi ladder to enlightenment".
In The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, Lessing describes some of the higher Zones in this "spiritual landscape" as self-contained "countries", each with their own "societies" that have evolved independently of the others over time.
The wives tended not to have been in high-stress professions and were younger and healthier than their husbands, and often became more powerful in the marriages.
An extramarital affair played out on the kitchen table might have seemed awkward and unconvincing, and the cracks in the marriages of both couples might have sounded hackneyed.
Researchers from the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project recently studied the role of generosity in the marriages of 2,870 men and women.
Divorce rates have climbed in countries like South Korea, Iran, China, and even in India, where parents traditionally have had a strong hand in the marriages of their children.
