Happiness - How to Build a Family Out of Love and Spare Parts

Reese Witherspoon's Book Club Pick 2018

An Amazon Best Memoir of the Month

One of Elle Magazine's Best Books of 2017

Goodreads Best of the Month

Daily Beast, "Books I Can't Live Without"

Good Housekeeping, Best New Books for Summer

Book Riot, 100 Must Read Books about Happiness

A page-turning, shirt-grabbing true story that follows a one-of-a-kind family required to make nearly unimaginable choices

Happiness starts out as a charming courtship between hopelessly attracted opposites: Heather, an out-going, theatre-performing California girl, and Brian, an intellectual New Yorker with an unwavering writing routine. But when Heather falls pregnant, their magical interlude abruptly ends-Brian loves her, only he doesn't want kids. So Heather decides to have their baby alone.

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 motherhood. As concerns for her health grow, Brian and Heather begin a cautious return to each other. Happiness transforms heartbreak and parental fears into a lyrical meditation on love and happiness, in all their crooked configurations.

About the author

Heather Harpham is a writer, teacher, and physical theater performer. Her writing for the stage includes six solo plays, the most recent of which, Happiness and BURNING, have toured nationally. Harpham's work has been recognized with the Brenda Ueland Prose Prize, a Marin Arts Council Independent Artist Grant, and a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She lives twelve miles north of New York City with her family. Harpham teaches in the theater departments at Sarah Lawrence College and SUNY. www.heatherharpham.com

Report

'The book is equal parts heart-wrenching and joyful, and you won't be able to stop turning these pages!'
Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Pick of the month

Product details

• Authors: Heather Harpham
• Publisher: Oneworld
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2018
• EAN: 9781786073433
• ISBN: 978-1-78607-343-3
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Family; Autobiography: general, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Divorce & Separation, Memoirs, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Children with Special Needs, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Parenting / Motherhood, Family & relationships, Children’s health, Parenting: advice and issues, Relationships and families: advice and issues, Diaries, letters and journals, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, Family and health, Popular medicine and health, Hereditary diseases and disorders, HEALTH & FITNESS / Diseases & Conditions / Genetic, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Medical (inc Patients)