The Happiness Show
The Happiness Show
“Insightful, lusty and irreverent exploration of love and marriage. Great read.” – Claudia Karvan
“The Happiness Show will resonate with anyone who has looked back fondly at times of untethered responsibility…Meatier than your average chick lit, The Happiness Show explores emotional and physical infidelity, but does so with humour rather than finger-wagging moralising.” – the Australian
‘This book is tough to put down.’ – Grazia
“a very good book” – Melbourne Observer
‘The Happiness Show will resonate long after you’ve stopped laughing and long after you’ve finished the last page.’ – The Hoopla
‘You may find yourself wishing you had a friend like Lizzie because she is such a force of nature, a truly hilarious and fearless woman.’ – Byron Shire Echo
‘Each character brings a beautiful slice of life to the pages, as do the flaws and quirks of our lovebirds… Those who enjoy indulging in a sly love story or two – but retch when too much cheese comes into play – should adore this novel.’ – Launceston Examiner
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The Happiness Show was chosen as one of State Library of Victoria’s Ten Summer Reads.
SEE ME TALK ABOUT THE HAPPINESS SHOW.
‘How am I supposed to get to sleep when you write books like this? I just keep saying ‘One more page, one more page…’ Bravo Devo! I have not finished a book for ages but I could not put The Happiness Show down!’ -Clare Bowditch
‘It’s fabulous. And what a cracking pace. It’s like spending an evening with Deveny, trying to keep up with the cornucopia that flows from her brain. I love all the perfect tiny details, the great flow of the story, the clever interweaving between scenes and events, the fullness of the characters, and the promise of what’s to come that makes me turn every page eagerly.’ – David Hancocks
She ached for him. She longed for him. She missed the way he made her feel and how funny and smart and sexy she felt with him. And young. She missed the version of herself that she had left behind.
At thirty-eight, Lizzie Quealy thinks she has things sorted: a happy relationship, a couple of gorgeous kids, a steadfast best friend and a career she loves. But when Lizzie bumps into Tom, an old flame from her globe-trotting twenties, her life begins to unravel.
Tom is her ‘unfinished business’: the man she might have spent her life with, if things had gone a little differently. Ten years on, the spark is still there – but how far is Lizzie prepared to go to recapture it, and at what cost?
Set in Melbourne, London and Bali, via Tokyo and the Trans-Siberian Express, The Happiness Show is a refreshingly honest story about love, fidelity and the messiness of second chances. Sexy and hilarious, it explores the rules and taboos of contemporary relationships – and what happens when they stand in the way of one woman’s pursuit of happiness.
The Happiness Show was chosen as on of the ‘Books at MIFF’ (Melbourne International Film Festival).
The seven titles were selected from 66 submissions with available film rights. In all, 18 publishers and literary agents submitted titles, and those with books that made the shortlist will publicly pitch these titles to producers at the Books at MIFF session for their consideration as potential films.
The shortlisted titles are:
- All That We Remember (Zoe Adams, HarperCollins)
- The Happiness Show (Catherine Deveny, Black Inc.)
- Hanging Devils (He Jiahong, Penguin, yet to be published)
- Lola’s Secret (Monica McInerney, Penguin, submitted by Curtis Brown)
- The Low Road (Chris Womersley, Scribe).
Nonfiction
- The Good, the Bad & the Unlikely (Mungo Maccallum, Black Inc.)
- Tamam Shud Case (Kerry Greenwood, NewSouth Publishing, yet to be published).
The titles were chosen by a reading panel of film industry professionals. Organisers said the submissions represented a ‘diverse line-up of titles, which were exceptionally strong this year’