About the Book
"A bold and moving novel . . . marks the arrival of a radiant new voice.” - Megha Majumdar, author of A Guardian and a Thief
Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self.
Deepa and Ruchi are 12 years old when they meet at their Catholic school in India, but their connection is swift and lasting. As the two girls grow up and face their families' expectations and the limits of their ambitions, their friendship is marked by intimacy, jealousy, and suppressed desire.
When, in their twenties, Deepa marries a doctor and moves from India to the suburbs of Connecticut, Ruchi quickly finds an engineer bound for the same state and follows her friend across the world. But life in the United States is different than either woman expects. Deepa's daughter seeks affection Deepa refuses to give, and Ruchi's son resists her smothering care. At the same time, Deepa and Ruchi find their closeness tested by a growing class disparity, competing family needs, and the differences in their desires. Ultimately, when Ruchi discovers a dangerous secret about Deepa's husband's wealth, both women are forced to weigh the tangled bonds of their friendship with their lives, and their families', in the burgeoning Indian American community.
“Moving and unforgettable” (Kimberly King Parsons), Every Happiness explores the slippery edges of a lifelong relationship, and the invisible threads that bind us, sometimes painfully, to those we love most.
About the Author :
Reena Shah is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her work has been featured in the Masters Review, Electric Literature, Joyland, BBC, the American Prospect, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among other publications. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, Millay Arts, Tin House, Sustainable Arts Foundation, Cuttyhunk Island Residency, and the Fulbright Foundation. She received an MFA in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature. For many years she was a kathak dancer in New York and India. She now lives on Roosevelt Island, NY with her family and teaches in a public school.
Review :
Shah deftly delivers a story full of parallelisms and contrasts in which the prickly humanity of her main characters is never softened.
Shah's lush prose and sensitive exploration of class, culture, and the evolving nature of female friendship will appeal to fans of Thrity Umrigar, Kamila Shamsie, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
With unflinching precision, Shah's debut captures the complexities of women's relationships.
Engrossing . . . Shah has a talent for teasing out the mysterious nature of desire and the complex bonds of community, family, and friends. This is one to savor.
For those who love complex and lifelong female friendships despite classism and family.
Original, extraordinary, and a deeply engaging read from start to finish.
I don't think I have ever missed a set of novel characters more: astonishingly alive, lovable, aggravating, real. Shah writes beautifully about every sort of love: filial, parental, marital, and above all the longing and vivid pettiness and durable, complicated love between women over decades.
A bold and moving novel with great emotional intricacy and keen attention to moral predicaments. It marks the arrival of a radiant new voice unafraid to examine love in all its forms, from the most stifling to the most freeing.
Moving and unforgettable, containing what I love most about fiction: a lush, unique, urgent voice steeped in cultural relevance, biting humor, and sentences that swerve and surprise.
One of the most arresting and rewarding novels I've read in years. Reena Shah is a writer of immense gifts . . . How lucky-and yes, how very happy-we are to have this book in the world.
Full of keen observations and confident prose, Every Happiness exposes the complexities of family, friendship, and the so-called American dream.
An intricate, unflinching portrait of female friendship and love that spans decades and continents, haunted by words that cannot be said and feelings that refuse to die. Luminous, brave, and unforgettable.
