Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine’s April 2018 Book Pick
An Indie Next Pick
One of Bustle's 13 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out in August
"Happiness by Heather Harpham is a beautiful memoir that follows Heather’s story as she gives birth to a baby girl, Gracie, whose health—and life—are at stake. Heather reconnects with Gracie’s father as their daughter fights for her life, and the harrowing events that follow will have you up all night, reading to find out what happens next. There’s heartbreak, joy, and lots of love—I won’t give it away, but trust me: Have your tissues ready. I really loved this memoir, and I know you will too!” —Reese Witherspoon
“An amazing story of love (almost) lost, then found.” —People
"A heartfelt exploration of mortality and life, this memoir also explores the complex pulls and pushes of human relationships, and the deep debt we owe to family, friends, and modern medicine. At heart, it is a sobering mediation on the lasting impermanence of its titular emotion, happiness." —NPR
"Harpham. . . .[brings] us along on her raw, real journey of healing—not just of her child but also of her marriage." —Oprah.com, "5 Memoirs That Will Blow Your Mind"
"[Happiness is a] book about one of the healthiest romances I’ve ever seen committed to paper, about neighborly grace, about balancing one child’s needs against another’s. . . . Harpham’s memoir feel[s] not just moving but necessary...so perfect, so affirming, so buoyantly brave." —The Millions
"Utterly gorgeous. . .heartbreaking. . . staggering. . . If you’re looking for a book to love, I recommend it. . . .[Happiness] is told in riveting, plot-twisting fashion. . . .But I’ll say that it’s also told with care and courage and humor, and it will deepen your understanding of not just life with a sick child, but life." —Chicago Tribune
"Harpham's writing is tender and frank. . . .Happiness is a fast read, a compelling story about life and death, illness and health, and, above all, family." —Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Absorbing. . . .A beautifully-written, insightful tale." —Good Housekeeping, "The 21 Best new Books for Summer 2017"
"Harpham is a heroine for our times...captivating." —The Los Angeles Review of Books
"Heather Harpham's moving memoir, [Happiness] is a page-turner." —Redbook
"Happiness is an incredibly moving account of survival and love that will inspire readers to hold on tight to what’s truly important." —Booklist
"[Happiness] is filled with both pain and beauty, and [Harpham] shares a clear-eyed view of messy relationships and the journey toward something resembles joy...[A] powerful memoir." —BookPage
"In this moving memoir. . . [Harpham] describes with warmth, fearless honesty, and humor the harrowing saga of what happened after she gave birth...Harpham has written a heartfelt exploration of familial bonds and the sometimes incredibly bumpy journey one must take to get to contentment." —Publishers Weekly
"Recently, memoirs by such dazzling writers as Ann Patchett and Dani Shapiro have explored and illuminated happiness: what it means, how we find it, and how hard won it can sometimes be. Now add Heather Harpham and Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After to this stellar company. With intelligence and lyricism and compassion, Harpham gives us her story of the rocky road that sometimes leads right where you want it to." —Ann Hood, bestselling author of The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, and Comfort: A Journey Through Grief
"At first glance, Happiness is a wry, honest, captivating story about parenting a sick child and that would be enough. But it turns out that Harpham is up to something even more interesting here, exploring the complexities of love. Told with abundant charm and insight, this book is a beautifully drawn portrait of one family—its comforts, disappointments and, on the very best days, moments of grace.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, bestselling author of The Nest
"An extraordinary and bewitching book, Happiness has staked a claim among the most beautiful and moving portraits of parenthood and partnership." —Susan Cheever, bestselling author of Treetops: A Memoir, and Home Before Dark
07/03/2017
In her early 30s, Harpham, a writer and playwright, found herself unexpectedly pregnant by her boyfriend, Brian, a novelist and professor who was adamant about not wanting children. As Harpham relates in this moving memoir, she relocated from New York City to Marin County, Calif., to be closer to her family while trying to figure out ahead of her due date if she, her boyfriend, and the baby could be a family. Her story unfolds in the early 2000s and she describes with warmth, fearless honesty, and humor the harrowing saga of what happened after she gave birth. Her newborn, Gracie, had a blood disorder that required her to get transfusions every few weeks because her bone marrow couldn’t make red blood cells; doctors told Harpham that without a marrow transplant, her daughter wouldn’t live past age 30. While the frustration and fear surrounding Gracie’s condition mounted, Brian slowly but steadily became more involved and kept visiting them in California. As Harpham wrestled with whether she still wanted him in her life, she found the patience to let him realize on his own that his feelings about fatherhood had changed. They resolved the questions in their relationship and then had to make the decision that had haunted them for more than a year: whether to risk Gracie’s life by putting her through a transplant operation that didn’t have guaranteed results. Harpham has written a heartfelt exploration of familial bonds and the sometimes incredibly bumpy journey one must take to get to contentment. (Aug.)
04/01/2017
An award-winning writer, performer, and teacher of physical theater/improvisation, Harpham tells a heartrending story of discovering hours after giving birth that something was dangerously wrong with her baby.
2017-05-15
Parenting a sick child takes a couple to the edge and back.No one wants to hear that their child has a life-threatening illness which, if left unattended, could considerably shorten the child's life. But if faced with such horrible news, one hopes to have the support and love of the other parent to help make decisions and get through the rough spots. In playwright Harpham's emotion-packed memoir about her sick daughter, Gracie, she examines the conflicted feelings she had toward Brian, Gracie's father, as the two navigated the complex world of a seriously ill child. Since Brian was not there for her during the pregnancy, the author wasn't able to trust that he would continue to be there through the numerous blood transfusions that Gracie required. Readers see her open her heart and world to Brian only to clamp down when she gets nervous or scared, reacting perhaps to the semichaotic echoes of her own childhood that still tug on her emotionally. The author does justice to Brian's love and affections, painting a well-rounded picture of a man who wants the best for his family as well as time and space for himself and his work as a writer. Throughout, Harpham provides detailed information about Gracie's condition, which builds tension and anxiety as readers wonder if this little girl will ever get the medical treatment she needs to beat her disease. The author also discusses the other parents she befriended in the hospital, many of whose children also had serious illnesses. Although a personal story, Harpham's memoir provides a larger, universal picture of unconditional love toward a child and the push-pull of an adult relationship and all its inherent highs and lows. A frank and often affecting memoir from a mother determined to do whatever it takes for her child.
