Description

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW NOVEL FROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS

‘This makes no sense, he thought. Look at your wonderful life…’

Hackney, August 2023. Tommy skives off work early. He’s hungry for a little more pleasure before summer is over. It’s a beautiful day, he’s surrounded by friends, and adored by his boyfriend, but as the day hurries on, his life’s happiness becomes harder to grasp.

Thirty years earlier, Tommy lived as a child on these same streets with his father, Maxy, and his mother, Grainne, a nurse from County Roscommon who lost her own father at seven in circumstances no one wants to talk about. Grainne is funny, and kind, but her feelings are big and unwieldy. She loves her little family, so why does she want to run away from it?

When the community gather for one final night at a beloved local bar closing its doors for good, the loves of Tommy’s life wait for his arrival. But as the party escalates, Tommy still hasn’t arrived.

A story which sprawls across three generations, moving from the East End of London to the West of Ireland, from queer bars and saunas, to bomb shelters during the Blitz, Happy Life is a profound and moving portrait of people who love being alive, and can’t go on living.

Publisher Review

PRAISE FOR EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS: ‘A gorgeous, kaleidoscopic vision of London written in shimmering prose I felt compelled to underline. I was deeply moved by its beauty and humanity’ Coco Mellors ‘A masterpiece. This searing tale of love, sex and class will resonate for generations to come’ Owen Jones ‘Electric and intimate. Bottles the exhilaration of youthful desire and possibility, as well as the accompanying instability’ Guardian ‘I’ve never seen London so vividly rendered: grubby, sexy, suffocating. I couldn’t put it down. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant’ Shon Faye ‘Full of rich observations and emotional detail. A complex love letter to the city.’ Vogue ‘A beautiful, wise book. Impossibly, ineffably beautiful.’ Russell T Davies ‘Compelling, brilliant, hypnotic. An impressive debut, pulsating with energy, humour and erotic charge.’ Irish Times ‘I loved it so much I didn’t want it to end. It made me choke up not from tragedy but from the sheer humanity of it’ Annie Lord ‘The only beach (or back garden) read for those in the know’ Sunday Times Magazine ‘A book you itch to return to’ Eva Wiseman, Guardian ‘The book of the summer’ Dazed ‘McKenna’s evocative prose paints a love letter to London in all its grimy glory’ Service 95 ‘Tender and addictive. Perfect summer reading.’ i Paper ‘Heartfelt, vivid and sexy’ London Standard ‘A love letter to cities and people and heartbreaks. It made me cry’ Eileen Myles ‘Astonishing. A magnificent read’ Russell Tovey ‘The book insiders will be passing on to everyone this summer’ Stylist ‘Sexy, clever and shockingly alive. I have never read a book that captures what London feels like so compellingly’ Tomasz Jedrowski ‘The aching, swelling humanity of this book swallowed me whole’ Saba Sams ‘Zadie Smith-esque in its kaleidoscope of London. Compassionate, intelligent, hilarious’ Niamh Campbell ‘A novel brimming with life’ Nicola Dinan ‘Stunning. Guaranteed to be one of the books of the summer’ Hero