Description

‘A brilliant contemporary novel’ COLM TOIBIN
‘So witty, observant and wise’ MARIAN KEYES
‘I am fully in awe of Dolan’s talent’ DOUGLAS STUART
‘A dazzling follow-up to Exciting Times’ KATHERINE HEINY
‘Beautiful’ PANDORA SYKES

Meet the wedding party:

THE BRIDE AND GROOM
Celine and Luke are meant to get married and live happily ever after. But Celine’s more interested in playing the piano, and Luke’s a serial cheater.

THE BRIDESMAID
Phoebe, Celine’s sister, is meant to finish college and get a real job. Instead she pulls pints, lives with six flatmates, and has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette.

THE BEST MAN
Archie, Luke’s best friend and ex-boyfriend, is meant to move up the corporate ladder and on from Luke. Yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.

THE GUEST
Vivian, Luke’s other best friend and other ex, was meant to put up with Luke’s bullshit when they dated. But she didn’t. And now she is contented, methodically observing her friends like ants.

As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after – but does it lie at the end of an aisle?

From the author of Exciting Times, this is a sparkling ensemble novel about love and marriage, fidelity and betrayal, that is both ferociously clever and supremely enjoyable

Publisher Review

Sassy and smart and wickedly funny, Dolan’s voice is uniquely her own. I inhaled every irreverent page — Ruth Gilligan, author of The Butchers I just finished The Happy Couple and I loved it – an extremely funny examination of modern love, with depth, bite and poignancy — Daisy Buchanan, author of INSATIABLE Dolan, whose debut novel Exciting Times was a storming success, is sure to bring her sparkling wit and insightful understanding of human relationships to this second outing * Irish Independent * I pure LOVED The Happy Couple. So witty, observant, wise and funny. Nihilistic about heteronormative relationships but so charmingly done I barely noticed. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it — Marian Keyes A cracking ensemble, The Happy Couple is a beautiful sonata about our relationships and a sad fugue for fear and loneliness. The book is a tough, all-engrossing love-test. Dolan’s acerbic humour is unapologetically analytical. She breaks the rule of intimacy with wit and panache that are second to none. I was kept on tenterhooks till the last few pages and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding afterwards. I don’t want to say goodbye to Luke and Celine. — Kit Fan, author of DIAMOND HILL Endlessly funny, endlessly inventive – a bold and stylish novel that slipped down and burned like a shot of something lovely — Rebecca Wait, author of I’M SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY A sophisticated character study of a young couple coming to terms with their relationship, in this biting, whip-smart look at modern love and the tangled messes we leave behind us. I am fully in awe of Dolan’s talent. And so glad my twenties are over — Douglas Stuart, author of YOUNG MUNGO and SHUGGIE BAIN The Happy Couple is a dazzling follow-up to Exciting Times. Dolan spins her magic again with humour and insight and the sharpest of prose. Not a word out of place — KATHERINE HEINY, author of STANDARD DEVIATION and EARLY MORNING RISER The Happy Couple is just as satisfying as Exciting Times, and deals with class, money, gender dynamics and bisexuality with similar ease. Set between London and Dublin, it is a beautiful exploration of love, fidelity – and whether either are compatible with marriage — Pandora Sykes The funniest writer you will read this year. Every page crackles — Irish Independent, on EXCITING TIMES Droll, shrewd and unafraid — Hilary Mantel, on EXCITING TIMES Witty, compelling, with a razor-sharp social commentary. I guzzled it — Pandora Sykes, on EXCITING TIMES It’s flawless — Colm Toibin, on EXCITING TIMES I found myself purring with pleasure. This is comic writing at the highest level — Craig Brown, on EXCITING TIMES Ice cool, self-aware and very funny. Shares of Lorrie Moore and The Bell Jar — Graham Norton, on EXCITING TIMES I had real fun with Exciting Times. It is a very funny, spiky, Marxist, feminist comedy and it’s really mean — Zadie Smith, on EXCITING TIMES A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it — David Nicholls, on EXCITING TIMES Naoise Dolan’s prose accommodates equally well a quickening heart and a mind on fire — Joshua Ferris, on EXCITING TIMES Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, EXCITING TIMES announces an impressive new voice in literature — Nathan Filer, on EXCITING TIMES