Stuff
Product Details
Scribner, March 2009
Hardcover, 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1439110077
ISBN-13: 9781439110072
Description
Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life—a handsome, intelligent, loving husband; two glorious toddlers; a beautiful house; the time and place to express all her ebullience and affection and optimism. Suddenly, that life was over. Her husband, Josiah, announced that he was leaving her and their two young sons.
When Josiah took a teaching job at a Midwestern college, Isabel and their sons moved with him from New York City to Ohio, where Isabel taught acting, threw herself into the college community, and delighted in the less-scheduled lives of toddlers raised away from the city. But within a few months, the marriage was over. The life Isabel had made crumbled. “Happens every day,” said a friend.
Far from a self-pitying diatribe, Happens Every Day reads like an intimate conversation between friends. Gillies has written 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.” Hers is a remarkable new voice—instinctive, funny, and irresistible.
When Josiah took a teaching job at a Midwestern college, Isabel and their sons moved with him from New York City to Ohio, where Isabel taught acting, threw herself into the college community, and delighted in the less-scheduled lives of toddlers raised away from the city. But within a few months, the marriage was over. The life Isabel had made crumbled. “Happens every day,” said a friend.
Far from a self-pitying diatribe, Happens Every Day reads like an intimate conversation between friends. Gillies has written 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.” Hers is a remarkable new voice—instinctive, funny, and irresistible.
Hear an Excerpt from the Audiobook
Related multimedia
Video
1 to 4 of 4-
1. Isabel Gillies: To Acquire A New Talent00:2827798188001 -
2. Author Isabel Gillies Discusses Her Best Quality00:5027802935001 -
3. Author Isabel Gillies Discusses Her Memoir Happens Every ...01:4227801036001 -
4. Isabel Gillies: My Favorite Movies00:4427806029001
Audio
1 to 2 of 2-
1. Isabel Gillies: Off The Shelf16:3541904359001 -
2. Isabel Gillies: Off The Shelf16:3627149513001
See more multimedia
"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
"A memoir so raw you feel like it's your best friend telling you her story."
-- Glamour, ("Must-Read" pick)
"By turns enlightening, funny, gut-wrenching... Happens Every Day is the nonfiction equivalent of Nora Ephron's Heartburn... Highly recommended."
-- Library Journal, starred review
"I couldn't put the book down and ... my husband ... couldn't put it down either... Compulsive and, frankly, chilling late-night reading."
-- Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air on National Public Radio
"Gillies movingly evokes the salt-on-wound sadness of loving a spouse turned stranger."
-- People (three stars)
"A smart, rueful memoir of love, betrayal and survival."
-- O, the Oprah magazine
"I couldn't help but admire her bravery... Good-humored, self-effacing...You feel nothing but deepest sympathy."
-- Ruth David Konigsberg, Elle
"Emotionally involving... There's a redemptive grace in [Gillies'] struggle."
-- Entertainment Weekly
New York Post, December 6, 2009
...at Oberlin. Since March, however, he has been widely known as the ex-husband of “Law & Order” actress Isabel Gillies, who depicted Harrison as a longstanding amoral adulterer in her memoir “Happens Every Day.” Harrison did not see ...
Washington Missourian, June 23, 2009
...'Happens Every Day,' by Isabel Gillies Reviewed by Nell Redhage, Washington Public Library, library director. When beginning this book, I thought I was reading a novel told in first person ...
Examiner.com, June 9, 2009
...Her characters are flawed and intriguing, and dealing with problems we're all facing in the 21st century. Happens Every Day is a title that caught my eye on a shelf in Starbucks. I didn't know what to expect from a book that was recommended ...
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, May 3, 2009
... Revenge is a dish best served cold. But in the case of 'Law & Order' actress Isabel Gillies, revenge is an iced latte with a large dollop of whipped cream served nationwide. That's because Starbucks has picked Gillies' memoir, 'Happens ...
Indianapolis Star, April 26, 2009
...is a dish best served cold. But in the case of 'Law & Order Special Victims Unit' actress Isabel Gillies, revenge is an iced latte with a large dollop of whipped cream served nationwide. That's because Starbucks has picked Gillies' memoir, ' ...
The Detroit Free Press, April 26, 2009
...Revenge is a dish best served cold. But in the case of 'Law & Order' actress Isabel Gillies, revenge is an iced latte with a large dollop of whipped cream served nationwide. That's because Starbucks picked Gillies' memoir, 'Happens Every ...
USA Today, April 13, 2009
...Revenge is a dish best served cold. But in the case of Law & Order actress Isabel Gillies, revenge is an iced latte with a large dollop of whipped cream served nationwide. That's because Starbucks has picked Gillies' memoir, Happens Every ...
Examiner.com, April 6, 2009
...and bestselling book. See if Candy can set the record straight tonight. Tuesday April 7, 7:00 PM: Isabel Gillies, author of the newest Starbucks pick Happens Every Day: An All-Too True Story, will read at the Barnes and Noble on 82nd and ...
PR inside, March 22, 2009
...Actress ISABEL GILLIES' memoirs began as a series of simple emails sent out from her mobile phone. The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star describes the breakdown of her marriage to ...
PR inside, March 10, 2009
...LAW & ORDER: SVU actress ISABEL GILLIES has hinted at her ex-husband's alleged infidelity in a fictional book inspired by their marriage. Gillies, who ended her six year marriage to DeSales Harrison in 2005, provided ...
