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This Is How It Always Is

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
4.28 goodreads logo

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( 210,314 ratings, 20,251 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel is a poignant novel about a family navigating the complexities of raising a transgender child. As their youngest son's secret starts to unfold, the family must balance between protecting him and embracing change. The narrative explores themes of love, acceptance, and identity, portraying how a family's unconditional support can transform profound challenges into resilience.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy heartwarming stories about family dynamics, challenges, and unconditional love, all explored with humour and compassion. It's an engaging narrative that delves into how a family's journey unfolds when faced with unexpected circumstances, making it a thoughtful and poignant read.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

'An intelligent, life-affirming, emotionally charged story. This is a very relevant read for today's world - it'll make you laugh and cry' Prima

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

'A very special book about a family with a secret. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think.' — Liane Moriarty, No. 1 bestselling author of Big Little Lies.

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is 'a sparkling tale about the power of secrets, loyalty and love' (Sunday Mirror). Perfect for readers of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and A Boy Made of Blocks.

This is how a family keeps a secret...and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after...until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is Claude. He's five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They're just not sure they're ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude's secret. Until one day, it explodes.

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. It's about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again. Parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts. Children grow but not always according to plan, and families with secrets don't get to keep them forever.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is praised for its enchanting narrative filled with humour, heart, and humanity. Reviewers highlight its portrayal of a modern family dealing with secrets, love, and loyalty, describing it as wonderfully engaging and moving. The novel's characters and the multifaceted love story are noted for sparkling with wit and wisdom, providing both entertainment and enlightenment.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781472241610

Publisher: Headline Publishing Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 January 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Headline Review

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 32.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 320g

Pages: 480

About the Author

Laurie Frankel writes novels (reads novels, teaches other people to write novels, raises a small person who reads and might someday write novels) in Seattle, Washington. She and her husband and daughter live on a nearly vertical hill from which Laurie can watch three different bridges when she's staring out her windows between words.

Laurie's earlier novels are The Atlas of Love and Goodbye For Now. This Is How It Always Is is her third novel.

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