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This Is Happiness

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This Is Happiness

By: Niall Williams
Narrated by: Dermot Crowley
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About this listen

Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish unaltered in a 1,000 years.

For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living. But now - just as Father Coffey proclaims the coming of the electricity - the rain clouds are lifting.

Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is idling in the unexpected sunshine when Christy makes his first entrance into Faha, bringing secrets he needs to atone for. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed.

As the people of Faha anticipate the endlessly procrastinated advent of the electricity, and Noel navigates his own coming-of-age and his fallings in and out of love, Christy's past gradually comes to light, casting a new glow on a small world.

Harking back to a simpler time, This Is Happiness is a tender portrait of a community - its idiosyncrasies and traditions, its paradoxes and kindnesses, its failures and triumphs - and a coming-of-age tale like no other.

Luminous and lyrical, yet anchored by roots running deep into the earthy and everyday, it is about the power of stories: their invisible currents that run through all we do, writing and rewriting us, and the transforming light that they throw onto our world.

©2019 Niall Williams (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd
Coming of Age Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Feel-Good Funny Heartfelt Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Witty Inspiring
All stars
Most relevant
Anne Patchett recommended this book to the audience of the 2024 Sydney Writers Festival. She was so right. Recommend it to everyone. Brimming with nostalgia, gorgeously drawn character and so much heart. I loved it.

Poignant, grand and beautiful

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Family life in rural Ireland coming to terms with modernisation (motor cars, electricity and the telephone) and all that comes with the resultant turmoil. Very well narrated and a quaint tale.

Lovely tale of rural Ireland

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The turn of phrase in this story is just beautiful. The description of such simple things in life, entertaining. It was so well done, I almost wish I lived in what, on the surface, were much simpler times. The friendship, the view on love and the observations about small town life all through the eyes of a 17 year old made this a story worth listening to.

Loved This!

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This book is a joy. A very slow beautiful book with possibly the best narration I’ve ever heard. Conjures up a lost world, as well as the agonies and ecstasies of a confused 17 year old book. Thank you Ann Patchett for this wonderful recommendation!

Extraordinary narration

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The writing, the story and the humanity of it all
Wonderful sympathy in the reading.

Marvelous, moving and most enjoyable!

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Oh, to spend more time in Faha! I loved coming back to the Fahahians each night and will miss them. Such life in Williams’ words. A beautiful Irish song. Loved it. Narrated to perfection.

Pure delight

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A warm generous tale of a lost world, one full of secrets, memories and meaning.

This is Happiness

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A beautifully written memoir of rural Ireland. I was in awe of the weaving of words that made me laugh and cry aloud and conveyed the essence of traditional rural Irish character. ☘️💛

Loved every little thing about this book!

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I didn't want it to end and I'm hoping there is a sequel. Wonderful story and told in a most unique way.

Beautiful 😍 I didn't want it to end

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I really enjoyed this book. a wonderful story of the past meeting the future and so beautifully narrated.
The humour, the sadness, the realness of the characters... I was sorry it had to finish.

a lovely story

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