The book is composed of texts that the author published in various media outlets. Its intention is to show the beauty and importance of the family. This is an institution as old as the human being. Over time it has suffered attacks through concrete actions; failing to respect its essential elements is one of them. The author says that the father, the mother, and the child form a triangle. We are all children, and a part of the adult population are fathers or mothers.
Marriage and the role of sexuality within the family have suffered and continue to suffer indirect or frontal attacks. Exacerbated individualism runs counter to human nature. The human being is social, and the family is a significant expression of this. If the family does not fulfill its mission, whether due to obstacles or omission, the State tends to occupy that space. What should be a subsidiary task can come to take the place that belongs to parents. The means of achieving motherhood while bypassing the paternal figure have consequences, just as cutting off the sources of life does.
Chesterton, through his way of writing and particularly in the composition of this book, surprises the reader with the clarity of many of his statements; the abundant paradoxes may help or distract the reader.