To really live, until the necessary end: Happy Is the One by Katie Allen #bookreview #HappyIsTheOne

Imagine you knew exactly when you were going to die…
Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life.
Born in 1986, when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can’t die. He has proof.
With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever.
But when Robin’s sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago.
Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin and he’s hiding even more from her.
A warmly funny, poignant and exquisite novel about coming home and letting go, Happy Is the One asks what is truly important in a chaotic, unpredictable world…

💛💛💛💛.5

Hi and welcome to my review of Happy Is the One!

I don’t read much contemporary fiction, but I will always make an exception for Orenda Books, Katie Allen in particular. She won me over with her debut, Everything Happens for a Reason, and I’ve been waiting for her next book ever since. It’s been years but Happy Is the One was well worth the wait!

The word life-affirming was made for Happy Is the One! Think Fredrik Backman, think Frank & Red, this story doesn’t have a curmudgeonly old man, it has a middle-aged man with issues, and as it turns out, that’s just as good. There was something very relatable about Robin, even though I’ve never been in any of the situations he finds himself in, and before long, I was completely invested in his life and all it entails.

Katie Allen writes vividly and beautifully, and she did tug at my heartstrings on more than one occasion. But she also made me smile. Much like her debut, Happy Is the One hits the right note by mixing emotion and humour, and it was such a joy to curl up with it after a long and tiring day.

Happy Is the One is a life-affirming (there’s that word again) story about life and death, about love, about finding out what works for you in your life, and switching gears even if you never in a million years expected yourself to do that, in a very down-to-earth sort of way. I loved it and I would happily recommend it.

Happy Is the One is out in digital formats and paperback on 22 May. Pre-order your copy directly from Orenda Books here.

Massive thanks to Orenda Books for the digital review copy. All opinions are my own.