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This Is How It Always Is
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
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Publisher's Summary
“Every once in a while, I discover a book that opens my eyes in a way I never expected. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel has done just that. It's a story about family: childhood, parenthood, and the sometimes-heartbreaking decisions that come with it. As a mother, this story absolutely tore at my heartstrings. I can’t wait for you to listen to it!" x Reese
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 how children change...and then change the world.
When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it's another baby boy. At least their large, loving, chaotic family knows what to expect.
But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. He wants to bring a purse to kindergarten. He wants hair long enough to sit on. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn aren't panicked at first. Kids go through phases, after all, and make-believe is fun. But soon the entire family is keeping Claude's secret. Until one day it explodes.
Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is an audiobook about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And 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.
What the critics say
2017, "Amazon.com Best Books of the Year", Long-listed
2018, "Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine", Long-listed
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What listeners say about This Is How It Always Is
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ellen Verity
- 2019-03-24
A heartwarming read
This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. 10/10
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- Amazon Customer
- 2019-11-13
Loved it
Kind, sensitive, a little over written occasionally but that’s OK.
It gives a perspective that feels right. What more an one ask?
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- Alice
- 2020-01-01
A wonderful tale of a child born to the wrong body
From 5 Claude knew he was more comfortable in a dress than jeans. He knew what made him feel right with in himself.
This is a story of love, support and family, a story of missteps and resteps.
It is well worth the time.
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- Jana Anchor
- 2022-12-02
A must read
This book will have you in love and invested in a beautiful story, a beautiful family and open your eyes to an experience many can not imagine first hand. I was sad to see it end.
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- Laura Thurston
- 2023-02-07
Powerful
The struggles and understanding of a family navigating a new path was great. The story of Grimwald drug on a little but helped educate the storyline. The author didn’t disguise the difficulties of our current world and lack of understanding but also showed the ability to learn and accept. Overall the story is powerful and complicated. It forces you to consider your own opinions and makes you wonder how you’d handle the same.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2018-09-19
A good perspective on this topic
Insightful and thoughtful to family dynamics around a subject that hasn't been explored a great deal. I enjoyed the story and the narrators rendition. #audible1
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- Anonymous User
- 2018-11-06
So Lovely
I loved this book right away. The story itself was amazing and the narrator was great! I felt like I was part of the family with the ups and the downs. Might just be my favourite book of 2018!
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- Lisa
- 2019-02-01
amazing book
I couldn't get enough of this book. it's beautifully written and beautifully read. highly recommend to everyone.
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- Terri Black
- 2019-06-11
Beautiful ...
Absolutely wonderfully written and so appropriate for the world we live in. The story immediately took me in and kept me there until the last sentence. Gabra Zackman does an award-winning performance and complements the characters, bringing each to life.
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- Misty Fox
- 2024-01-03
The extraordinary in the normal and the lessons in the extraordinary, that seemed ‘normal’ and the way normal interchanges
I didn’t dislike any of it, even the slower pace that seemed to coast on the last third of the book had so much meaning, I was never bored
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