The Frequency of Living Things: A Novel

(Hardback)

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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 isnt 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) albumgold records, Grammy nominations, and diehard fansis two decades behind her. Hiding under the surface of her swagger is a long-held guilt that has turned her into her sisters enabler. Emma knows she needs Aras 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, shes 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 wont always be around to take care of you. A former defense attorney and perennial do-gooder, shes 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 needor watch to see if the resilience shes 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.

Reviews

In The Frequency of Living Things, Nick Fuller Googins captures the intricate forces of human connection with stunning prose: a rare blend of music, language, and depth. With a piercing understanding of the complexities of the human heart, Googins explores both the destructive and healing connections that tether us to those we love. The destinies of the three sisters, Josie, Emma, and Ara, explode off the page. Wise, clever, and profound, this novel is an exploration of the natural world, sisterhood, addiction, sacrifice, and the impossible choices of love. Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
The Frequency of Living Things is a masterfully written family saga, an ode to how our mothers, daughters and sisters often understand us better than we do ourselves. I would gladly spend forever with the fiercely loving, bitingly tender Tayloe sisters and their complicated, heroic mother. Heartbreaking yet filled with hope, Googins's sophomore novel cements him as one of our greatest contemporary novelists. Cat Shook, author of If We're Being Honest
PRAISE FOR THE GREAT TRANSITION

The Great Transition sets itself apart through its visionary scope and possibility for changeUrgent but hopeful. Chicago Review of Books
A page-turner chock full of optimistic ideas for how we can reimagine our collective future. Lit Hub
Emotionally compelling and humane. The Washington Post
Hopeful, bold, imaginative, and heartbreaking,The Great Transitionlucidly shows the incredible capacity of utopian thinking to inspire and change lives, while addressing the devastating costs of climate inaction. I cant stop thinking about this visionary novel and its singular characters. Nick Fuller Googins has written a book for the present and the future read this and you will be changed. Michelle Min Sterling,New York Timesbestselling author ofCamp Zero
A magnificent debut novel thats both an important cautionary tale and a deeply compelling family story.Although set in a stunningly well-imagined future in the aftermath of a climate apocalypse,The Great Transitionis electrifyingly relevant.I cant remember ever being more impressed with a first novel. William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land
Nick Fuller Googins demonstrates exactly the kind of clear-eyed utopian thinking well need more of as we work together to solve our climate crisis, wrapping a call to action, accountability, and mutual aid in a story thats as thrilling as it is moving. Every worthwhile novel sets out to change its readerthis one sets out to change the world. I hope it does.Matt Bell, author ofAppleseed
The Great Transitionasks what it means to start overas a society and as individualsand then answers with visionary scope. Offering readers thrilling glimpses into utopic possibilities born from collective mobilization, as well as an unflinching assessment of our climate crisis, Nick Fuller Googins brilliantly renders the personal political and the political personal. A must-read debut that kept me enthralled and left me inspired. Allegra Hyde, author ofEleutheria
This book melds the huge and the intimate, the imperatives of our global climate crisis with the more compact narrative of a family trying to do right by one another when the world goes sideways. Fuller-Googins stares down some of today's biggest societal issues with abundant imagination and endless empathy. Emily Nemens, author ofThe Cactus League

Author Bio

Nick Fuller Googinshas published short stories and essays inThe Paris Review,theLos Angeles Times,The Southern Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Maine and works as an elementary school teacher.He is the author ofThe Great TransitionandThe Frequency of Living Things.