The Way Life Should Be: A Novel

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Two fathers embarking on the second half of their lives together. Two families in the midst of transformation. A warm, funny, and unforgettable novel about the joys and fears of moving on.

Husbands Thomas and Matt are enjoying a second-chance marriage after coming out, leaving their wives, and finding happiness in a summer cottage on the southern coast of Maine. Theyve kept a tenuous peace with their exes. Thomas toils in the garden. There is an ease to their love. This is the way life should be.

But its not long before their three children each nearing adulthood and fleeing personal crises of their own descend on their fathers bliss. The two-bedroom getaway has just enough space for Thomas and Matts future. Now they must make room for the past, and all its drama.

During an unintentional family reunion, old lives, broken and in need of repair, converge with the new. Over the course of an unforgettable summer, two fathers and their children will come together. Theyll understand what life still can be. Pain, anger, flaws and all, theyre determined to forge a loving way forward.

'With humor, heart, and honesty, William Dameron captures the chaos and beauty of bringing a blended family together as one. In their idyllic yet tiny cottage on the coast of Maine, two dads find themselves unexpectedly hosting all their (nearly) adult children, who bring with them a lot of psychic baggage secrets, resentment, and the still-festering fallout of having a father who had to leave home to be true to himself. The Way Life Should Be is an unflinching yet unabashedly romantic ode to family, and I thoroughly loved it.' Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party

'Ever since I read William Damerons thrilling, groundbreaking memoir The Lie, Ive known Dameron is that rare thing, a storyteller of hard truths, a skilled writer capable of creating a stunning reading experience, an instant classic. But I didnt know that fiction was an even more compelling testament to his gifts. In The Way Life Should Be, he proves just that. In these pages he deconstructs and embraces, in fine prose, a large and complicated blended family whose lives have gone off the tracks. They meet in a small Maine house, whose Cottage Rules provide tender and often hilarious guidelines for not killing one another. Dameron keenly follows all the family members and adjacent friends as they follow their own complicated desires and mysterious issues from the past to search for a place of balance. His finely wrought characters from all generations show us how a big, divorce-messy yet devoted family triumphs, even when squashed into a ridiculously tiny cottage. This is the way life should be: broken and gritty but whole, if its heart remains true and judgments and old grudges can be laid aside. As his protagonist Thomas says, There were moments he would never want to experience again, but he wouldnt change them, couldnt change them, because without them, life wouldnt be the way it is now, the way life should be. This is a love story to Maine, and to family. Highly recommended.' Suzanne Finnamore, bestselling author of Split: A Memoir of Divorce and My Disappearing Mother: A Memoir of Magic and Loss in the Country of Dementia

'A raw and intimate look at the intricacies of a blended family, all under one too-small roof in a seaside Maine town. Dameron pulls you into this story of complicated family dynamics, where relationship bonds are tried, tested, and strengthened across three generations. A tale woven carefully and hilariously, with dad jokes, kindness, acceptance, and love. Come for the clever quips; stay for the honest portrayal of what it is to be human.' Noelle Salazar, international bestselling author of The Flight Girls and Angels of the Resistance

'Like the characters in William Damerons The Way Life Should Be, I have driven across the Piscataqua River Bridge many times to go home. Dameron effortlessly captures the deep love of family and place and all the heartbreak, laughter, beauty, and joy they contain. Its a loving portrait of second chances.' Steven Rowley

Reviews

With humor, heart, and honesty, William Dameron captures the chaos and beauty of bringing a blended family together as one. In their idyllic yet tiny cottage on the coast of Maine, two dads find themselves unexpectedly hosting all their (nearly) adult children, who bring with them a lot of psychic baggagesecrets, resentment, and the still-festering fallout of having a father who had to leave home to be true to himself. The Way Life Should Be is an unflinching yet unabashedly romantic ode to family, and I thoroughly loved it. Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party Ever since I read William Damerons thrilling, groundbreaking memoir The Lie, Ive known Dameron is that rare thing, a storyteller of hard truths, a skilled writer capable of creating a stunning reading experience, an instant classic. But I didnt know that fiction was an even more compelling testament to his gifts. In The Way Life Should Be, he proves just that. In these pages he deconstructs and embraces, in fine prose, a large and complicated blended family whose lives have gone off the tracks. They meet in a small Maine house, whose Cottage Rules provide tender and often hilarious guidelines for not killing one another. Dameron keenly follows all the family members and adjacent friends as they follow their own complicated desires and mysterious issues from the past to search for a place of balance. His finely wrought characters from all generations show us how a big, divorce-messy yet devoted family triumphs, even when squashed into a ridiculously tiny cottage. This is the way life should be: broken and gritty but whole, if its heart remains true and judgments and old grudges can be laid aside. As his protagonist Thomas says, There were moments he would never want to experience again, but he wouldnt change them, couldnt change them, because without them, life wouldnt be the way it is now, the way life should be. This is a love story to Maine, and to family. Highly recommended. Suzanne Finnamore, bestselling author of Split: A Memoir of Divorce and My Disappearing Mother: A Memoir of Magic and Loss in the Country of Dementia A raw and intimate look at the intricacies of a blended family, all under one too-small roof in a seaside Maine town. Dameron pulls you into this story of complicated family dynamics, where relationship bonds are tried, tested, and strengthened across three generations. A tale woven carefully and hilariously, with dad jokes, kindness, acceptance, and love. Come for the clever quips; stay for the honest portrayal of what it is to be human. Noelle Salazar, international bestselling author of The Flight Girls and Angels of the Resistance Like the characters in William Damerons The Way Life Should Be, I have driven across the Piscataqua River Bridge many times to go home. Dameron effortlessly captures the deep love of family and place and all the heartbreak, laughter, beauty, and joy they contain. Its a loving portrait of second chances. Steven Rowley

Author Bio

William Dameron is an award-winning blogger, memoirist, essayist, and author of The Lie, a New York Times Editors Choice. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Times (UK), Telegraph, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Salon, HuffPost, Oprah Daily, Saranac Review, Literary Hub, Hippocampus Magazine, and in the book Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi & Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life. He is an IT director for a global economic consulting firm, where he educates users on the perils of social engineering in cybersecurity. William and his husband split their time between the coast of southern Maine and Florida. For more information, visit the author at www.williamdameron.com.