Something Like Happy

In these remarkable stories, John Burnside takes us into the lives of men and women trapped in marriage, ensnared by drink, diminished by disappointment. These are people for whom the idea of ‘home’ has become increasingly intangible, hard to believe – and happiness, or grace, or freedom, all now seem to belong in some kind of dream, or a fable they might have read in a children's picture book. As he says in one story, ‘All a man has is his work and his sense of himself, all the secret life he holds inside that nobody else can know.’ But in each of these normal, damaged lives, we are shown something extraordinary: a dogged belief in some kind of hope or beauty that flies in the face of all reason and is, as a result, both transfiguring and heart-rending. ‘There is no telling what kind of gifts one of John Burnside’s wonderful sentences will contain.’ Anne EnrightAuthor: Burnside, John,author Contributors: Burnside, John,author Binding: paperback Number Of Pages: 256 Publication Date: Languages: English,Published,English,Original Language,Englis Published/Release Date: 3 Apr 2014 Format: Paperback / softback Publisher/Studio/Brand: Vintage Publishing Author/Director/Artist: John Burnside Dimension (cm): 198x129x17 mm Package Dimension (cm): 21x195x129 mm Item Weight (g): 181 Package Weight (g): 180