“THE SALLY ROONEY-APPROVED BOOK OF THE SUMMER.”
—DAZED

NAMED 'A BEST DEBUT NOVELIST' BY THE OBSERVER • A NEW YORK TIMES JULY BOOKS PICK • A NEW YORKER 'BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)' • A VOGUE 'BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)' • NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED NOVEL BY THE TIMES • GQ • THE GUARDIAN • GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

“I Want You to Be Happy is an irresistible novel that asks complex questions about contemporary life and refuses easy answers. I couldn’t stop reading.” —Sally Rooney

“An agonisingly bittersweet comedy.” ―The Observer

“A totally devastating—and all too relatable—portrait of modern romance.” ―Vogue

"Hypnotizing, like a long story from a friend you always have good banter with.” —The Brooklyn Rail

Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He's in his mid-thirties; she's twelve years younger. He's long abandoned his ambition of becoming a novelist and now works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. 'Lead copywriter,' he corrects himself. Joey lives 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's imagining a future between them, and Chuck's moving on from a major change in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new.

Funny, excruciating, and true, 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 trying.