Frequency of Living Things, Nick Fuller Googins
Frequency of Living Things, Nick Fuller Googins
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Frequency of Living Things

Author: Nick Fuller Googins

Narrator: Suehyla El-Attar Young

Unabridged: 11 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/12/2025

Categories: Fiction, Family Life, Women


Synopsis

A heartbreaking American epic about three sisters who unearth lifetimes of family tensions as they are forced to rescue one of their own from peril, testing the limits of sacrifice, sisterhood, and forgiveness from the author of the “profound work of great wisdom” (Alice Elliott Dark) The Great Transition.

Josie may be the youngest sister, but she takes care of everyone. She is the left-brained scientist to her twin sisters’ right-brained artistic chaos. She makes sure their rent gets paid on time, they make their therapy appointments, and has also been their de-facto band manager since she was a teenager. When Ara, her middle sister (by a few minutes), calls from jail, it isn’t exactly a surprise, and Josie knows exactly how to snap into action.

Emma is the quintessential frontwoman, complete with looks and attitude. But the success of The Twins’ first (and only) album—gold records, Grammy nominations, and diehard fans—is two decades behind her. Hiding under the surface of her swagger is a long-held guilt that has turned her into her sister’s enabler. Emma knows she needs Ara’s creative genius and thinks a jailhouse record could be just the thing to get Ara her freedom and their band back on the main stage.

Ara is detoxing, not only from her opioid habit but also from her family. The truth is, as crazy as it sounds, she’s not in a hurry to get out of lock-up. In the most unlikely and dangerous of places, this could be her chance to face the demons of her past and disentangle herself from her family.

Bertie, who raised her three daughters as a single mother, has always taught them that family won’t always be around to take care of you. A former defense attorney and perennial do-gooder, she’s committed to taking care of everyone less fortunate even if that means putting her girls’ needs second. But now Bertie must decide if she should reenter her daughters’ lives in their greatest time of need—or watch to see if the resilience she’s taught them will help carry them through.

A story both intimate and sweeping, The Frequency of Living Things explores the timeless question of how our individual destinies are intertwined with our family, our siblings, and our history no matter how we try to untangle ourselves from them.

About Nick Fuller Googins

Nick Fuller Googins has published short stories and essays in The Paris Review, the Los Angeles TimesThe Southern Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Maine and works as an elementary school teacher. He is the author of The Great Transition and The Frequency of Living Things


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shelley's Book Nook on August 03, 2025

My Reviews Can Also Be Found On: The Book Review Crew Blog This is a tale about three sisters: Josie, Emma, and Ara. Ara ends up in jail, and Josie comes to the rescue yet again. Emma, the lead of their band back in the day, decided to help by suggesting they release a jailhouse record. This was a ver......more

Goodreads review by Laurel on August 02, 2025

So different from The Great Transition, which I absolutely loved. Nick Fuller Googins writes such powerful, emotionally complex, colorful and dynamic women characters. In this riveting novel, we have fierce feminist rock musicians, a prison matriarch, a brilliant scientist, an activist mom who’s mor......more

Goodreads review by Alyssa on March 17, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for inviting me to read this ARC and for sending me a physical copy! This was nothing short of a masterpiece. I loved every second of it, even though a lot of it hurt me or made me upset. This reads like a Fredrik Backman book, which I loved. The storytelling a......more

Goodreads review by Victoria on February 12, 2025

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advance reader copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Frequency of Living Things is a primarily sister story— about twins, Ara and Emma, and their sister, Josie, who have found their way into adulthood in a dependent, intense, and fraught connection......more

Goodreads review by Tammy on August 09, 2025

4 stars. A generational family drama about an absentee activist mother putting others over her own children, and her three daughters bound by sisterhood but broken apart by trauma. The book is an emotional + twisty sister story of survival that focuses on the three sisters, music, family dynamics, c......more