Description
Description
A complete refreshment and uplift of energy: a hilarious, beguiling first novel for the head and the heart.
Sylvie is happy only when she's in therapy. This is because Sylvie is in love with her therapist; she thinks about her every second they're not together (roughly 167 hours and 10 minutes per week). In that room, Sylvie is able to talk about everything: the false hope promised by eighties music; what a dog's inner life is really like and how sad, she, Sylvie is, outside that room. She's aware she has an obsession, but whether it's some flavor of erotic transference or a lost person's need to connect, Sylvie isn't sure. Outside therapy Sylvie has what she considers to be a small life: a job as a veterinary nurse, companionship from her tattoo artist friend via text, and seaside walks with her brain-damaged dog, Curtains. But maybe therapy is making a difference, inviting her to imagine possibilities--possibilities that include a new friend she meets on the beach. When the therapist starts to prepare Sylvie for the terrible fact that all treatment has to come to an end, Sylvie can't stop herself from imagining sleeping in her car parked outside the therapist's house. That won't work. She has to be brave. Be brave, Sylvie! We love you. In this wonderful, hilarious, stunning debut, Adelaide Faith captures the vulnerability, difficulty and joy of personhood, of being a person, of being alive.
About the Author
About the Author
Adelaide Faith worked as an editor in the Schools Department of Channel 4 before training to be a veterinary nurse at Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, after which she worked as a nurse at the RSPCA and the PDSA. Her short fiction has appeared in Forever Magazine, Hobart, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Maudlin House, Farewell Transmission, ExPat Press, and Stone of Madness Press. She is a member of Chelsea Hodson's Morning Writing Club, and she lives in Hastings with her young daughter and old dog, Pierrot.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Advance Praise
"Faith masterfully balances Sylvie's dialogue-heavy sessions with her counselor with unflinchingly honest descriptions of her inner thoughts and surroundings. Fans of Judith Rossner's August and Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (2017) will enjoy this slow-paced novel of one woman's journey to find happiness without asking for permission."--Katie Pomeroy, Booklist "In Sylvie, Faith has created a wonderfully likable and empathetic character longing for connection to others and reckoning with the next level of emotional maturity . . . Faith presents interesting insights into the client-therapist relationship in this strong character-driven novel, featuring a realistic, even quirky portrayal of someone coming of age."
--Library Journal "This accomplished debut tackles complex topics--obsession, grief, and abuse among them--with remarkable clarity and humor."
--Hannah Jackson, Vogue (Best Books of the Year So Far) "Witty and irreverent . . . Faith's razor-sharp prose and Sylvie's fanciful thinking sustain the offbeat narrative. Readers will fall in love with this meditative and heartfelt novel."
--Publishers Weekly "I was mesmerized by Happiness Forever, and helplessly caught in its spell from the first page. There is so much rare humor and insight and sweetness and humanity in its pages, and a true and ringing voice. It's a beautiful book about longing, and the feeling that one is not a self, and being hurt, and the vulnerability of simply being alive, and friendship, and obsession, and therapy. I wanted to pass it on to all my friends."
--Sheila Heti, author of Alphabetical Diaries "Happiness Forever explores what happens when we let ourselves be truly transformed by obsession and longing. Adelaide Faith's writing is unrestrained and voyeuristic, resulting in a truly special book. Not only is this novel surprising and funny, it's also poignant and philosophical in its exploration of what it means to watch and be watched. This is a book I won't soon forget."
--Chelsea Hodson, author of Tonight I'm Someone Else "Happiness Forever had me hopelessly charmed from its opening sentence . . . I loved it!"
--Amy Key, author of Arrangements in Blue "A disarmingly sweet book, with a protagonist who speaks to those parts of us we often pretend aren't there."
--Nicola Dinan, author of Disappoint Me "A jaw-dropping, exhilarating, completely original high-wire act, Happiness Forever perfectly balances being insane and almost too sane."
--Jessica Stanley, author of forthcoming Consider Yourself Kissed "Extremely charming, unique, impossible to put down."
--Lisa Owens, author of Not Working
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pub date:
2025-05-13
Length:
256 pages
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