The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness Audiobook By Maddie Dawson cover art

The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness

Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible Premium Plus.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness

By: Maddie Dawson
Narrated by: Amy McFadden
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Get 3 months for $0.99 a month

Three women, three lives, and one chance to become a family...whether they want to or not.

Newly orphaned, recently divorced, and semiadrift, Nina Popkin is on a search for her birth mother. She's spent her life looking into strangers' faces, fantasizing they're related to her, and now, at thirty-five, she's ready for answers.

Meanwhile, the last thing Lindy McIntyre wants is someone like Nina bursting into her life, announcing that they're sisters and campaigning to track down their mother. She's too busy with her successful salon, three children, beautiful home, and...oh yes, some pesky little anxiety attacks.

But Nina is determined to reassemble her birth family. Her search turns up Phoebe Mullen, a guarded, hard-talking woman convinced she has nothing to offer. Gradually sharing stories and secrets, the three women make for a messy, unpredictable family that looks nothing like Nina pictured...but may be exactly what she needs. Nina's moving, ridiculous, tragic, and transcendent journey becomes a love story proving that real family has nothing to do with DNA.

©2016 Maddie Dawson. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Funny Heartfelt
Engaging Storyline • Relatable Characters • Emotional Journey • Quirky Personalities • Unpredictable Plot

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
Really good story without the predictable outcomes i expected. definitely kept me engaged to the end.

Not Predictable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A satisfying read about expanding ones definition of family. What it means to begin a family both by birth and circumstance.

Fully Human

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Interesting story of how a family can be formed, and I enjoyed it. The characters each seem defined by just one or two characteristics, but it was a satisfying read.

How Do You Define Family?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed the characters, especially Nina, who was so persistent not wanting to give up finding her mother. I enjoyed many of the scenes, the dialogue, and especially the reader, Amy McFadden!

Great story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Such an amazing storyteller! This author brings to life an entire world and draws you in. I am going to miss this family in this book now that I've finished reading it.

I Felt Like I was There. Inside This Book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews