num_pages: 318
description: A shirt-grabbing page-turning love story that follows a one-of-a-kind family through twists of fate that require nearly unimaginable choices.Happiness begins with a charming courtship between hopelessly attracted opposites: Heather a world-roaming California girl and Brian an intellectual homebody writer kind and slyly funny but loath to leave his Upper West Side studio. Their magical interlude ends full stop when Heather becomes pregnant - Brian is sure he loves her only he doesn't want kids. Heather returns to California to deliver their daughter alone buoyed by family and friends. Mere hours after Gracie's arrival Heather's bliss is interrupted when a nurse wakes her Get dressed your baby is in trouble. This is not how Heather had imagined new motherhood  alone heartsick an unexpectedly solo caretaker of a baby who smelled like sliced apples and salted pretzels but might be perilously ill. Brian reappears as Gracie's condition grows dire; together Heather and Brian have to decide what they are willing to risk to ensure their girl sees adulthood. The grace and humor that ripple through Harpham's writing transform the dross of heartbreak and parental fears into a clear-eyed warm-hearted view of the world. Profoundly moving and subtly written Happiness radiates in many directions - new romantic love; gratitude for a beautiful inscrutable world; deep abiding friendship; the passion a parent has for a child; and the many unlikely ways to build a family. Ultimately it's a story about love and happiness in their many crooked configurations.
language: English
title: Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After
publisher: Henry Holt and Co.