107 Capitol Way N
Olympia, WA 98501
USA
Join us as we welcome novelist Laurie Frankel to Browsers to talk about her novel, This Is How It Always Is. The novel is also our store October Book Club pick. If you would like to discuss the book before Laurie speaks at the store, we invite you to attend.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When Rosie and Penn and their four sons welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised that it’s yet 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 try to take the news in stride. They alert teachers. They do their research. But for Poppy—as Claude now wants to be called—and her family, the journey is only just beginning. It takes them from Wisconsin to Seattle to Thailand, and somewhere along the way Rosie and Penn start to see that the fairy tale ending doesn’t always look the way it does in stories, that no family conforms perfectly to the cookie cutter model, and that in many ways, this is how it always is.
In the tradition of The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg and Little Miss Sunshine, THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS reminds us all that family means protecting each other’s secrets, and standing united when those secrets find their way out.
Laurie has a very personal connection to this story. I invite you to read her New York Times Modern Love column about her own daughter, who is transgender. Laurie has drawn on her own experiences as a parent to write a novel for anyone who has to toss out the best laid plans in the face of the unexpected, for anyone who finds change both terrifying and miraculous, and for anyone who delights in watching their loved ones grow and change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Laurie Frankel is the author of two previous novels, The Atlas of Love and Goodbye for Now. She lives in Seattle with her daughter and husband.
