A Happy Catastrophe: A Novel

by Maddie Dawson

Overview

From the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners comes a novel about love, loss, and the beautiful mess of family.

Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy.

Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions. While it’s not exactly the change she envisioned, it looks like instant family to Marnie. But Patrick, afraid of being hurt again, retreats further into himself. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off her feet?

But some love stories are worth waiting for. And what’s love without a little chaos anyway?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542006460
Publisher:	Lake Union Publishing
Publication date:	05/26/2020
Pages:	380
Sales rank:	612,543
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Maddie Dawson grew up in the South, born into a family of outrageous storytellers. Her various careers as a substitute English teacher, department-store clerk, medical-records typist, waitress, cat sitter, wedding-invitation-company receptionist, nanny, day care worker, electrocardiogram technician, and Taco Bell taco maker were made bearable by thinking up stories as she worked. Today Maddie lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with her husband. She’s the bestselling author of six previous novels: Matchmaking for Beginners, The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness, The Opposite of Maybe, The Stuff That Never Happened, Kissing Games of the World, and A Piece of Normal.

Editorial Reviews

2020-03-02
A matchmaker who believes herself able to see love shimmering in the air must get through a series of personal setbacks in her own life.

In this follow-up to Dawson’s Matchmaking for Beginners (2018), Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney return, and the story is told through their perspectives. Marnie is a 33-year-old Florida transplant to Brooklyn, a magically influenced matchmaker, and the owner of a flower shop that has become a community hangout space. She loves Patrick, a prickly artist with significant physical and mental scarring from an explosion that, years earlier, killed his then-girlfriend. The pair live in a Brooklyn brownstone, where Patrick led an almost hermitlike existence in the basement apartment before Marnie inherited and moved into the building. A one-time sculptor, he can no longer create because of the scarring and pain in his hands. The story begins nearly four years into their relationship, with Marnie longing for a baby, Patrick uninterested in being a parent, and the universe taking over their lives as surprise after surprise is dropped into their laps. A broken condom; the return of Tessa, a one-night stand (well, two-night, she and Patrick are quick to point out) with a child in tow; the opportunity for Patrick to put on an art show in a new medium with as-yet-unpainted work; the arrival of Marnie’s mom from Florida; and the constant ups and downs in the lives of a handful of neighborhood teenagers are just the tip of the iceberg. The chaos brings Marnie to life and causes Patrick to withdraw ever further into himself. Dawson has created a truly quirky story, filled with a little bit of magic (think unicorn glitter and sparkles) and a lot of love. This is a long read leisurely told, but there is enough tension to keep the reader racing through its pages.

An optimistic, feel-good story that celebrates love, community, goodness, and the creation of family, however it might appear.

Kirkus Reviews

Dawson has created a truly quirky story, filled with a little bit of magic (think unicorn glitter and sparkles) and a lot of love…An optimistic, feel-good story that celebrates love, community, goodness, and the creation of family, however it might appear.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Alive with action, compelling and evolving characters, and screwball comedy, Dawson’s latest will appeal to readers looking for a story that is both pleasurable and substantial. Personal growth is achieved by overcoming obstacles, and the ending is honest and satisfying.” —Booklist

“An inherently engaging and entertaining novel from cover to cover, A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections.” —Midwest Book Review

“The perfect effervescent antidote to these strange times, Dawson’s book sparkles with wonder, delight and a true sense of what love can mean and how it might reconfigure when faced with chaos. Honest to God, when I finished this novel, I put my hand on my heart and sighed.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World and With or Without You

“In A Happy Catastrophe, author Maddie Dawson works magic on the page as she takes us into the life of bighearted Marnie MacGraw, a woman who can literally see the sparkle of love in the air. Marnie is surrounded by a constellation of vivid characters who, whether searching for connection or confronting loss, keep pressing on through the rich and wondrous catastrophe of life. A beautifully written testament to the tenacity of hope and the power of love.” —Nancy Star, bestselling author of Sisters One, Two, Three

“If you enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners as much as I did, prepare to be spellbound by A Happy Catastrophe—in which Marnie and the people closest to her discover that magic isn’t getting what you want, but rather in loving what life surprises you with. Maddie Dawson is at the top of her game in this charming and unputdownable novel.” —Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’m Fine and Neither Are You

“A triumphant tale about the redemptive magic of love—and the way life sometimes drags us through the muck before giving us what we never knew we wanted. Marnie is one of the most delightful heroines in contemporary fiction, and you won’t want to miss her!” —Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of Whisper Me This

“I am a big, big fan of Maddie Dawson, and A Happy Catastrophe is one of those rare books—a sequel that is even more enjoyable than its stellar predecessor. In the follow-up to Matchmaking for Beginners, Maddie Dawson has taken her airy, madcap character on a walk through the hard work of not just falling in love, but staying the course with a man who has a few things to work out. And what results is a tale of great heart and insight—sprinkled with stardust and hope.” —Barbara O’Neal, author of When We Believed in Mermaids

From the Publisher