Always the Last to Know


Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
72
Narrator
15
Release Date
June 2020
Duration
12 hours 58 minutes
Summary
Sometimes you have to break a family to fix it.
From New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins, a new novel examining a family at the breaking
point in all its messy, difficult, wonderful complexity.
The Frosts are a typical American family. Barb and John, married almost fifty years, are testy and bored with each
other … who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters—Barb’s favorite, the perfect,
brilliant Juliet; and John’s darling, the free-spirited Sadie. The girls themselves couldn’t be more different, but at least
they got along, more or less. It was fine. It was enough.
Until the day John had a stroke, and their house of cards came tumbling down.
Now Sadie has to put her career as a teacher and struggling artist in New York on hold to come back and care for
her beloved dad—and face the love of her life, whose heart she broke, and who broke hers. Now Juliet has to wonder if
people will notice that despite her perfect career as a successful architect, her perfect marriage to a charming Brit, and
her two perfect daughters, she’s spending an increasing amount of time in the closet having panic attacks.
And now Barb and John will finally have to face what’s been going on in their marriage all along.
From the author of Good Luck with That and Life and Other Inconveniences comes a new novel of heartbreaking
truths and hilarious honesty about what family really means.
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Reviews

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The characters were well developed. The plot was never boring. I even shed a few tears.

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Jonetta A.

Barb and John Frost raised two daughters in Stonington, Connecticut. Juliet, the oldest, is a successful and well-regarded architect in a prestigious firm. Sadie is an art teacher at a Catholic school in New York City and a struggling artist trying to launch her career. Barb & John’s marriage isn’t on the strongest foundation, in fact she’s considering divorce. And, it’s not even a conversation she’s had with John. Before she can do so, she gets a call that he’s in the hospital undergoing brain surgery stemming from a stroke and bicycle fall. The lives of everyone in this family are literally permanently disrupted overnight. The story is told from all four characters’ points of view, including John’s following his stroke. The most difficult of all of them is Barb’s story as it’s bitter and not always sympathetic. I must admit that I didn’t like much about her for a good portion of this story. But then I slowly realized that this was the result of years of pent up frustration from a woman who rarely received acknowledgement for exceptionally supporting her husband and family. Experiencing her evolution from an unfulfilled woman to a better place was often gut wrenching and hard to take in because hers is a common journey, hitting hidden nerves. On the surface, Juliet appears to have the perfect career, family and marriage and therein lies her issues. All that perfection takes a toll. Sadie wants to have a successful career as an artist and has an image of what that looks like but hasn’t yet embraced her talent or figured out what it really is. Juliet is Barb’s unabashed favorite; Sadie is John’s. I inhaled this story, fascinated by these women and the trajectory of their lives. There is a shocking revelation early on where the details were later slowly delivered. It was easy to get caught up in some of the aspects as they could apply to my own life. Their paths weren’t predictable and the resolutions were still unclear until I reached the end. The characterizations are rich and while there’s not a lot of drama, there’s plenty of depth to their stories and relationships. I opted to listen to the book and Barb’s voice took some getting used to but I was happy with everyone else as they seem to fit the characters, especially Juliet’s. I like that multiple narrators were used as it was ideal for four main characters with equal weight. This author never disappoints and I loved everything about this one. (Thanks to Recorded Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)

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Elizabeth L.

This is one I would have enjoyed more reading it myself. The style the Sadie and Barb chapters were read with made those characters, and Noah, unappealing.

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KateinSD

Great story. I loved the characters and narrators. Great character and plot development. One of those books you don’t want to stop listening to. Another great story from a great author.

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Christina Henderson

I thought the book was very good! I really enjoyed the ending!

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