Roger and Zelda were lovers. Best friends. Ardent, fun-loving, passionate, they were intellectual and sexual soul mates, a perfect match. And then they got married. How is it that a little piece of paper and a signature in the courthouse records can make such a difference?

What happens when love becomes legal is the wellspring of this bawdy, exuberant, all too recognizably familiar tale of modern marriage. As Roger tells it - and does he ever tell it! - Zelda emerges as both ravening monster and glamorous wild woman: jealous, possessive, competitive, greedy . . . yet also fantastical, erotic, and wickedly imaginative.

But who is the real Zelda? Little by little, doubts about Roger's version creep in until what began as a comedy of manners (admittedly bad) turns into a wry and telling commentary on true love and the egocentricity of the eternal male. And so the war goes on. Conjugal Bliss is John Nichols' ninth novel. A sexual comedy that will draw blood as well as laughs, it is Nichols at his funniest, most outrageous best.