A Way to Be Happy

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By (author): Caroline Adderson

Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize • A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024

Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.

On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.

AUTHOR

Caroline Adderson

Caroline Adderson is the author of four novels (A History of Forgetting, Sitting Practice, The Sky Is Falling, Ellen in Pieces), two collections of short stories (Bad Imaginings, Pleased To Meet You) as well as books for young readers. Her work has received numerous prize nominations including the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Winner of two Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes and three CBC Literary Awards, Caroline was also the recipient of the 2006 Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement.

Reviews

Praise forA Way to Be Happy

When collected the stories inA Way to Be Happyoffer a multifaceted even prismatic investigation into the influence of gender on perception particularly in moments of fear and loneliness

Emily M KeelerGlobe and Mail

Adderson is a deft masterful storyteller whose literary fiction surely deserves more attention

Kirkus Reviewsstarred

One of Canadas finest shortstory writers considers what it means to find happiness The characters veer from thieving addicts to a Russian hitman and offer a multifaceted investigation into the influence of gender on perception particularly in moments of fear and loneliness

Globe and MailThe Globe 100

Though her writing is incisive emotionally astute slyly funny and awardwinning it still feels like Adderson hasnt quite gotten her due as one of this countrys best shortstory writers

Emily DonaldsonGlobe and Mail

Many characters wave to others only to have their heartfelt waves go coldly unacknowledged Combined with tight poignant descriptions such moments convey the inner turmoil emotional loneliness and absorbing humanity that animateA Way to Be Happyas a whole

Kyle WyattLiterary Review of Canada

When seeking happiness there is always a cost The journey is never simplistic and when it comes to complexity Adderson is a master

Winnipeg Free Press

Its difficult to make happiness interesting Caroline Adderson however succeeds with stylish skill She creates sympathetic characters struggling with inner complexitieswhat it feels like to be a disappointment or to not be believed or to lead a passionless life always offering though an encounter providing a respite from loneliness or isolation

Kassie RoseThe Longest Chapter

For each story Adderson expertly develops a detailed setting and the author carefully constructs vivid characters from every walk of life Each one of them making their way to some undetermined fate

Bill PaulThe BC Review

Caroline Addersons stories are delicious they zip and bubble and a number are touched with tenderness

Townsend WalkerNew York Journal of Books

As the author of many books of fiction and nonfiction the breadth of Addersons writing experience is evident in her craft This clever and meticulously crafted collection from a writer who has mastered her art is a pleasure to read

Lori HahnelFreeFall Magazine

A Way to Be Happyis immensely refreshing as it not only explores the uniqueness but also showcases the unpredictability of the everyday in a manner only a few writers manage to do

Saurabh SharmaThe New Indian Express

Addersons prose is straightforward but doesnt flatline every word choice feels intentional When she goes into detail it is perfectly placed to highlight her characters idiosyncrasies making the reader empathize with their struggles

Isobel BrayThe Tribune

This wellseasoned author has managed to steer clear of the hazards of kitsch or gratuitousness to produce a nearperfect collection about a bunch of very imperfect yet entirely plausible characters and scenarios

Scout Magazine

The characters in these stories from veteran of the form Caroline Adderson range from thieving addicts to a Russian hit man to a middleaged man facing a routine colonoscopy Through these varied characters and their disparate conflicts Adderson explores happinesshow we find it and what it means when we do

Quill amp Quire

A superb and unique collection Intricate compassionate complex its every sentence carefully built tested and polished each story draws the reader into the life of a character hurtling or meandering towards the consequences of their own choices and to the storys necessary conclusion They will by turn flood you with unexpected sympathy lighten your mood or leave you with a puzzle you cant quite solve No one else writes short fiction the way Caroline Adderson does and there are only eight stories in the book The way to be happiest is to savour each one

Kathy Page Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prizewinning author ofDear Evelyn

Caroline Addersons voice is as vivid as ever in this exciting new collection and her characters are unfailingly mesmerizingdistinctive unpredictable somehow like everyone yet no one youve ever met before

Lynn Coady author ofWatching You Without Me

Caroline Adderson builds terrific suspense from her characters lonely offcentre lives Each story inA Way to Be Happyis its own mysterious world shaped by her outstanding powers of imagination and sympathy

Elizabeth Hay author ofSnow Road Station

Caroline Adderson is one of Canadas best short story writers A brilliant stylist her inventive sentences are the trademark of a literary pro

Susan Swan author of the upcoming memoirBig Girls Dont Cry

Praise for Caroline Adderson

All of Addersons characters are rounded and all have utility not simply as plot devices but as part of a striving suffering whole

New York Times Book Review

Caroline Adderson treats the domestic drama with elegance and wit and what she has to say about her characters and their circumstances is often profound

Meg Wolitzer author ofThe Female Persuasion

Adderson excels at portraying life in all its glorious devastating unpredictable messiness

Toronto Star

Adderson achieves a remarkable effect with her prose Its clarity is so overwhelming that it becomes intoxicating

Globe and Mail

A prose style as elegant and controlled as a swallow dive No one could ever accuse Adderson of timidity when it comes to subject

The Independent

Arresting Adderson writes with a rare understanding of human frailty

The TimesLondon