These Things Happen (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781609530891)

A domestic story told in numerous original and endearing voices. The story opens with Wesley, a tenth grader, and involves his two sets of parents (the mom and her second husband, a very thoughtful doctor; and the father who has become a major gay lawyer/activist and his fabulous "significant other" who owns a restaurant).

Wesley is a fabulous kid, whose equally fabulous best friend Theo has just won a big school election and simultaneously surprises everyone in his life by announcing that he is gay. No one is more surprised than Wesley, who actually lives temporarily with his gay father and partner, so that he can get to know his rather elusive dad. When a dramatic and unexpected trauma befalls the boys in school, all the parents converge noisily in love and well-meaning support. But through it all, each character ultimately is made to face certain challenges and assumptions within his/her own life, and the playing out of their respective life priorities and decisions is what makes this novel so endearing and so special.


Author: Richard Kramer
ISBN-10: 1609530896
ISBN-13: 9781609530891
Publisher: Unbridled Books
Language: English
Published: 11/07/2012
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.14lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.00d
Award: Lambda Literary Awards - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/10/2012
Booklist 11/01/2012 pg. 25
Foreword 12/03/2012