The Newlyweds (Alfred A. Knopf)

Marriage has been a hotly discussed topic since President Barack Obama voiced his support for same-sex unions, but author Nell Freudenberger looks at the institution from a different perspective in The Newlyweds.

In her latest novel she tells the story of Bangladeshi Muslim Amina who marries George, an engineer from Rochester, NY, after they meet on an online dating website.

They confront cultural confusion, differing expectations for the future and secrets from their pasts as they muddle through their first years of marriage. Their relationship and Amina's understanding of herself are tested when she goes back to Bangladesh to help her parents immigrate to the United States.

"I think no matter how much you're in love, it's a different thing to live with somebody day to day and to raise children," Freudenberger says. "I think that must be true for all marriages, whether arranged or not, Internet or not, between two cultures or not."

The Newlyweds is Freudenberger's third book. Her earlier works, The Dissident and Lucky Girls, were New York Times Book Review Notables. At 37, she is also among the New Yorker's "20 Under 40" notable fiction writers, and was named one of the best young American novelists by the literary magazine Granta.

AP-Reuters