Recommendations based on This Is How It Always Isby Laurie Frankel

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Before We Were Yours

    by Lisa Wingate
    Family torn apart is reunited across generations, revealing a powerful tale of resilience and hope.

    Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Giver of Stars

    by Jojo Moyes
    A group of women in Kentucky during the Great Depression form a traveling library, facing challenges and finding friendship.

    From the author of, Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond. Alice ... (Goodreads)

  3. Us Against You

    by Fredrik Backman
    Small town rivalry threatens the bonds of family and community as two towns battle for the same hockey team.

    The #1, New York Times, bestselling author of, A Man Called Ove, and, Beartown, returns with an unforgettable novel “about people—about strength and tribal loyalty and what we unwittingly do when ... (Barnes & Noble)

  4. Homegoing

    by Yaa Gyasi
    Spanning centuries, the intertwining stories of two African sisters, their descendants, and the legacy of slavery.

    Effia is raised by her mother, Baaba, who is cruel to her. Nevertheless she works hard to please her mother. Known as a beauty, Effia is intended to be married to the future chief of her village, but ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Power

    by Naomi Alderman
    A world where women have the power to control electricity, and use it to fight against gender-based oppression.

    In a matriarchal society, a gushing male writer writes to an influential author about his fictional account of how the matriarchy came to be. Five thousand years earlier (in our current time), men ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Immortalists

    by Chloe Benjamin
    Four siblings visit a fortune teller who predicts the dates of their deaths, leading them to confront mortality and shape their lives accordingly.

    If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims ... (Goodreads)

  7. Commonwealth

    by Ann Patchett
    Intertwining story of two families across multiple generations, and how their lives become intertwined.

    It started at Franny Keating’s christening party. Bert Cousins wasn’t even invited, but looking for an excuse to get out of the house, away from his three noisy children and pregnant wife for a few ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Home Fire

    by Kamila Shamsie
    A family torn apart by tragedy, facing the choices of loyalty, love and politics.

    Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long ... (Goodreads)

  9. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

    by Fredrik Backman
    An imaginative quest to uncover the truth behind a beloved grandmother's mysterious stories.

    The story takes place in Sweden and follows Elsa, a 7-year-old who knows she is different from other children her age. Elsa has a habit of correcting others' grammar, she is smart for her age, and is ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Beartown

    by Fredrik Backman
    A small-town hockey team and its community grapple with the consequences of a traumatic event.

    Peter Andersson, in his forties, is the general manager of the ice hockey club in Beartown, a small town located somewhere in Sweden. Peter grew up in Beartown and was a junior hockey star. He went ... (Wikipedia)

  11. They Both Die at the End

    by Adam Silvera
    Two strangers, united by fate, explore life and death while forming a unique bond.

    Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Couple Next Door

    by Shari Lapena
    A suspenseful tale of a missing child, revealing the secrets and lies of the seemingly perfect neighbours.

    AN INSTANT, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER,Shari Lapena’s new thriller,, AN UNWANTED GUEST, is available now!,“,The twists come as fast [as] you can turn the pages.,”, ,—,People,“,Provocative and ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. Truly Madly Guilty

    by Liane Moriarty
    A group of friends face the consequences of a single summer night that changes their lives forever.

    Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong? Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, ... (Goodreads)

  14. Days of Blood & Starlight

    by Laini Taylor
    After a devastating invasion, a young woman must find the strength to fight for her people and reclaim her home.

    Karou has left Earth for the land of the chimaera and seraphim , Eretz, where the chimaera have been defeated by the seraphim. She has begun the job taken up by her adopted father Brimstone: the art ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Saints for All Occasions

    by J. Courtney Sullivan
    Two Irish sisters immigrate to Boston in the 1950s, and their lives take different paths. A family secret threatens to tear them apart.

    A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of, Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart. Nora and Theresa ... (Goodreads)

  16. Anything Is Possible

    by Elizabeth Strout
    An exploration of the interconnected lives of a small town's inhabitants, and the power of redemption.

    Short story collection Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others. Here are two sisters: one ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Home for Unwanted Girls

    by Joanna Goodman
    A young girl is sent to an asylum in 1950s Quebec, where she faces abuse and forced adoption. Her mother fights to get her back.

    Philomena meets Orphan Train in this suspenseful, provocative novel filled with love, secrets, and deceit—the story of a young unwed mother who is forcibly separated from her daughter at birth and ... (Barnes & Noble)

  18. The Perfect Son

    by Barbara Claypole White
    A mother struggles to understand and help her son with OCD while dealing with her own past.

    From a distance, Felix Fitzwilliam, the son of an old English family, is a good husband and father. But, obsessed with order and routine, he’s a prisoner to perfection. Disengaged from the emotional ... (Barnes & Noble)

  19. Then She Was Gone

    by Lisa Jewell
    A mother's desperate search for her missing daughter reveals secrets of a dark family history.

    #1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER From the, New York Times, bestselling author of, Invisible Girl, and, The Truth About Melody Browne, comes a “riveting” (,PopSugar,) and “acutely observed family drama” ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. You Think It, I'll Say It

    by Curtis Sittenfeld
    Collection of stories exploring the human condition, relationships, and the power of words.

    A suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie. A high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is ... (Goodreads)

  21. Purple Hibiscus

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    A young girl's struggle to find her place in a family and society torn apart by political turmoil.

    A previously published edition of ISBN 9781616202415 can be found, here., Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, ... (Goodreads)

  22. Still Alice

    by Lisa Genova
    A woman's struggle to hold on to her identity in the face of a devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

    Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience ... (Goodreads)

  23. Day After Night

    by Anita Diamant
    Four women, survivors of the Holocaust, find solace and hope in a detention camp in Palestine.

    Atlit is a holding camp for illegal immigrants in Israel in 1945. There about 270 men and women await their future and try to recover from their past. Diamant with infinite compassion and ... (Goodreads)

  24. Lethal White

    by Robert Galbraith
    Private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin investigate a blackmail case involving a government minister.

    At Robin Ellacott's marriage to Matthew Cunliffe, Cormoran Strike's capture of the Shacklewell Ripper the night before is already widely known, except by Robin. When Strike tells her that he had been ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Defending Jacob

    by William Landay
    A father must defend his son who is accused of murder, unraveling the truth of a complex crime.

    Andy Barber is an assistant district attorney in Newton , Massachusetts. He is investigating the murder of a 14-year-old boy, Ben Rifkin, who was a classmate of his son Jacob and was found stabbed to ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Underground Railroad

    by Colson Whitehead
    An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.

    The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Wreckage

    by Emily Bleeker
    A woman searches for answers about her past, uncovering secrets that will change her life.

    Lillian Linden is a liar. On the surface, she looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash. But she’s been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her ... (Barnes & Noble)

  28. An American Marriage

    by Tayari Jones
    A newlywed couple's lives are torn apart when the husband is wrongfully convicted of a crime. The novel explores love, loyalty, and injustice.

    Roy, a sales representative for a textbook company, and Celestial, an artist specializing in custom made baby dolls, are newlyweds who live in Atlanta. After their first year of marriage they travel ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Salt to the Sea

    by Ruta Sepetys
    Vivid tale of a group of refugees struggling to survive in WWII Europe.

    New York Times, Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! ,"Masterfully crafted",—,The Wall Street Journal,For readers of, Between Shades of Gray, and, All the Light We Cannot See, Ruta Sepetys, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. Every Note Played

    by Lisa Genova
    A renowned pianist is diagnosed with ALS, and his estranged ex-wife becomes his caregiver. A poignant story of love, loss, and forgiveness.

    An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. That was eight ... (Goodreads)