Happy Life

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, Gráinne, a nurse from County Roscommon who lost her own father at seven in circumstances no one wants to talk about. Gráinne 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.

About the author

Oisín McKenna grew up in Drogheda, Ireland, and lives in London. He was awarded the Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland to write Evenings and Weekends – the highest award for an emerging artist in Ireland – and it was developed with further funding from Arts Council England. Evenings and Weekends has been awarded a 2022 London Writers Award, which supports London’s most promising underrepresented writers. In 2017, Oisín was named in the Irish Times one of the best-spoken word artists in the country. He has written and performed four theatre shows, including ADMIN, an award-winning production at Dublin Fringe 2019, and has written for outlets including the Irish Times on issues such as gentrification and the alienation of Dublin’s youth.