That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas
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That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas

Contemporary fiction

That’s Not How It Happened

by Craig Thomas

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Quick Take

While a mother’s memoir is being adapted into a Hollywood movie, the real family drama hilariously unfolds off-screen.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, LGBTQ_themes

    LGBTQ+ themes

  • Illustrated icon, LOL

    LOL

Synopsis

Paige didn’t set out to be a stay-at-home mom, but when her husband’s screenwriting career took off right before they had a son with Down syndrome, the decision was made for her. Now, with their children nearly grown and unsure what’s next, Paige writes a memoir about the challenges of raising a child with a disability. When a major actress-turned-producer shows up at her door eager to make her “inspiring” story into a movie, she’s shocked, excited, and a little terrified.

This movie just might be the comeback opportunity her husband, Rob, desperately needs. His career has fizzled in recent years. But the movie is going to need a screenwriter, and who better to adapt his wife’s memoir than him?... Meanwhile, their son, Emmett, doesn’t understand why people think his Down syndrome is the most important thing in his life (that’s definitely his girlfriend, Amy)—but he hopes his newfound fame might somehow get him closer to meeting his idol, Eddie Vedder. Their daughter, Darcy, couldn’t care less about the whole thing because she’s hardly even in their mom’s book. The “normal” child who nobody ever worries about is feeling more forgotten than ever as her love life implodes and college decisions loom.

As their lives are chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood machine, triggering old resentments and launching new betrayals, will any of them even recognize the “inspiring” family in this film? Or will this “feel-good” movie be the end of them?

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Wild Dark Shore
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Isaac’s Song
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Dinner for Vampires
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The Night We Lost Him
Madwoman
House of Bone and Rain
Hum
The Lion Women of Tehran
A Summer Affair
Did I Ever Tell You?
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Family Family
Northwoods
Mercury
The Second Chance Year
Astor
What We Kept to Ourselves
The Leftover Woman
While You Were Out
Evil Eye
Just Another Missing Person
Family Lore
Little Monsters
The Connellys of County Down
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Paper Names
Divine Rivals
Hang the Moon
Maame
White Horse
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
Part of Your World
Don't Cry for Me
Olga Dies Dreaming
The Book of Magic
Everything We Didn't Say
Apples Never Fall
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
We Are the Brennans
Firekeeper's Daughter
Good Company
What's Mine and Yours
The Kindest Lie
The Removed
The Half Sister
In a Holidaze
White Ivy
The Girl in the Mirror
Winter Counts
Star Daughter
Head Over Heels
The Guest List
The Glittering Hour
Nothing to See Here
If Only I Could Tell You
Saving Zoë
Things You Save in a Fire
The Rest of the Story
Summer of '69
There's Something About Sweetie
You'd Be Mine
The Other Woman
Enchantée
Kingdom of Copper
A Woman Is No Man
The Winter Sister
Maid
Unsheltered
Winter in Paradise
Sweet Little Lies
How to Walk Away
The Rules of Magic
The Glass Castle
Pachinko
Family drama
View all
The Great Wherever
The Burning Side
The Children
Porcupines
Good Joy, Bad Joy
Before I Forget
That’s Not How It Happened
Softly, As I Leave You
To the Moon and Back
All the Tomorrows After
Finding Grace
A Family Matter
The River Is Waiting
Home of the American Circus
Six Days in Bombay
Wild Dark Shore
A Killing Cold
A Season of Light
The House of My Mother
What Happened to the McCrays?
Isaac’s Song
Definitely Better Now
Dinner for Vampires
The Last One at the Wedding
The Night We Lost Him
Madwoman
House of Bone and Rain
Hum
The Lion Women of Tehran
A Summer Affair
Did I Ever Tell You?
Just for the Summer
Family Family
Northwoods
Mercury
The Second Chance Year
Astor
What We Kept to Ourselves
The Leftover Woman
While You Were Out
Evil Eye
Just Another Missing Person
Family Lore
Little Monsters
The Connellys of County Down
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Paper Names
Divine Rivals
Hang the Moon
Maame
White Horse
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
Part of Your World
Don't Cry for Me
Olga Dies Dreaming
The Book of Magic
Everything We Didn't Say
Apples Never Fall
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
We Are the Brennans
Firekeeper's Daughter
Good Company
What's Mine and Yours
The Kindest Lie
The Removed
The Half Sister
In a Holidaze
White Ivy
The Girl in the Mirror
Winter Counts
Star Daughter
Head Over Heels
The Guest List
The Glittering Hour
Nothing to See Here
If Only I Could Tell You
Saving Zoë
Things You Save in a Fire
The Rest of the Story
Summer of '69
There's Something About Sweetie
You'd Be Mine
The Other Woman
Enchantée
Kingdom of Copper
A Woman Is No Man
The Winter Sister
Maid
Unsheltered
Winter in Paradise
Sweet Little Lies
How to Walk Away
The Rules of Magic
The Glass Castle
Pachinko