For most families, it remains the ultimate dilemma: how to balance a happy, healthy family life with the demands and rewards of work. When Gaby Hinsliff realised that she couldn't continue to work 60-hour weeks, spend time with her child and expect to stay happily married, there was only one solution. She quit, and decided to start again from scratch. ''Half a Wife'' tells the story of that leap into the dark and proposes positive, practical solutions for piecing together what at times can seem like an impossible jigsaw. It encourages working parents to rethink traditional set ups - at home, at work, in relationships - to the mutual benefit of the whole family. The result? A much more egalitarian family life, where both partners can work if they want to, both share the care and both get back a little bit of a life as a result. Based on personal experience but also drawing on new thinking from politics, psychology, anthropology and even architecture, ''Half a Wife'' is a guide for guilt-torn parents who are teetering on the edge, but it is also a wake-up call to opinion leaders.It is essential - and uplifting - reading for anyone who feels the visceral pull of home, but also the lure of meaningful work. ''A wonderfully sane and helpful book. Better than Calpol. I only wish it had been around when I became a mother. Gaby Hinsliff has written an invaluable guide for any parent struggling to reconcile their twin passions for their children and their work''. (Allison Pearson, author of ''I Don't Know How She Does It'').