Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies
Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies
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Happens Every Day
An All-Too-True Story

Author: Isabel Gillies

Narrator: Isabel Gillies

Unabridged: 6 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/24/2009

Synopsis

Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life—a handsome, intelligent, loving husband who was a professor; two glorious toddlers; a beautiful house in their Midwestern college town; the time and place to express all her ebullience and affection and optimism. Suddenly, the life Isabel had made crumbled. Her husband, Josiah, announced that he was leaving her and their two young sons. "Happens every day," said a friend.

Far from a self-pitying diatribe, Happens Every Day reads like an intimate conversation between friends. It is a dizzyingly candid, compulsively readable, ultimately redemptive story about love, marriage, family, heartbreak, and the unexpected turns of a life. On the one hand, reading this book is like watching a train wreck. On the other hand, as Gillies herself says, it is about trying to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness, and loving your life even if it has slipped away.

About Isabel Gillies

Isabel Gillies is a New York Times bestselling author of Happens Every Day, A Year And Six Seconds, Starry Night, and Cozy. Her writing has been published in Vogue, The New York Times, Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, GOOP, and Saveur. A lifelong New Yorker and actress for many years, she lives in Manhattan with her husband, three kids and two dogs.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kirsti on June 23, 2009

I read a couple of reviews of this that basically described it as "prom queen chats with you at the high-school reunion, has one too many margaritas, and reveals that her life has gone to shit." So of course I had to read it. The author is a successful actress who gave up her career because her husba......more

Goodreads review by Bradt on May 01, 2009

I'm starting to feel like the only guy on the planet who's read this book. I thought it was actually pretty good and hard to put down. A lot of people have said the writing is bad- and while it's not Edith Wharton or Henry James, I didn't find the writing bad-- just your average 'every day speak'. F......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on June 25, 2009

I loved this book. Gillies' voice is honest and funny and just REAL. I listened to it on my iPod and when it was over I was so sad. Especially because she ends it by TOTALLY leaving us wanting more. I hope there is a sequel in the works, like, right now.......more

Goodreads review by Vicki on April 22, 2009

I was very tired at work because I stayed up too late reading this book. The writing isn't great, but for some reason the book just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I felt so much sympathy for the author, and believed that I understood what she was going through. I've read comments that said reading......more

Quotes

"Isabel Gillies has written a heartbreaking memoir about the wild unpredictability of the human heart. She is stunningly candid and reminds every reader that, yes, lives fall apart, husbands leave wives, people start over -- Happens Every Day. Gillies is moving, funny, authentic, and never a victim. Her voice is instantly compelling." -- Elisabeth Robinson, author of The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters

"Isabel Gillies tells the story of the breakup of her 'perfect' marriage with astonishing honesty, sharp humor, and not a shred of self-pity. This is a memoir that reads like a gripping mystery and a moving coming-of-age tale." -- David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Proof

"What a strange and wonderful surprise: a gorgeous, funny, exuberant book about the disastrous end of a marriage. A loss like Gillies's might happen all the time, but it's rarely met with the passion, compassion, energy, and warmth that suffuse every page. With charming candor, she lays bare her sorrow and her joys, and finds a true -- and instructive -- talent for transformation and happiness." -- Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It and A Family Daughter

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