Items related to I Want You to Be Happy: A Novel

I Want You to Be Happy: A Novel - Hardcover

Calder, Jem

 
9780374620554: I Want You to Be Happy: A Novel
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0374620555 ISBN 13: 9780374620554
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026

Synopsis

A tender, witty, and sharp debut novel about the passions and peculiarities of modern love, by "an extraordinarily gifted writer" (Sally Rooney).

Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He's in his mid-thirties; she's twelve years younger. He long ago abandoned his ambition of being a novelist and works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. "Lead copywriter," he corrects himself. Joey is living paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck's luxury flat-a world away from Joey's cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey is imagining a future between them and Chuck is moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new.

Funny, excruciating, and true, Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but still trying.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Jem Calder was born in Cambridge and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly and Granta. He is the author of the short-story collection Reward System.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
2026
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0374620555
ISBN 13 
9780374620554
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
224