True romance: how to keep the love alive when your partner has been unfaithful

Being cheated on feels like the end of the world. It takes hard work, but relationships can survive

The trouble with romantic betrayal - apart from the obvious pain - is that it is the salacious lifeblood of everything from tabloid headlines and box sets to true crime podcasts. Because of this, there is a tendency to view it in highly dramatic terms. That is fine when we are snuggled up on the sofa watching other people's heartbreak at a distance, but less helpful when it arrives closer to home.

He's a cheater," gossiped one friend recently about a mutual acquaintance's partner. She needs to throw him out and change the locks." Well, maybe. But the man in question is a mild-mannered accountant who had, in the space of six months, lost his mother and his job. Could this have been a temporary blip?