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I Want You to Be Happy

'I couldn't stop reading.' Sally Rooney
By Jem Calder
0.0 (0 reviews)
Brief Description
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2026 'Prepare to see this everywhere.' Elle 'I was totally invested.' Saba Sams 'I was utterly enthralled.' Leslie Jamison 'Jem Calder is my new favourite writer.' Andrew O'Hagan 'Will appeal to Cleopatra And Frankenstein fans, and the setting and themes... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Funny, excruciating and true, this is the story of a new couple searching for meaning and connection in modern times - from 'an extraordinarily gifted writer' (Sally Rooney).

Funny, excruciating and true, this is the story of a new couple searching for meaning and connection in modern times - from 'an extraordinarily gifted writer' (Sally Rooney).

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2026

'Prepare to see this everywhere.' Elle
'I was totally invested.' Saba Sams
'I was utterly enthralled.' Leslie Jamison
'Jem Calder is my new favourite writer.' Andrew O'Hagan
'Will appeal to Cleopatra And Frankenstein fans, and the setting and themes is reminiscent of Evenings And Weekends.' Stylist

Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He's in his mid-thirties; she's twelve years younger. He's long abandoned his ambition of becoming a novelist and now works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. 'Lead copywriter,' he corrects himself. Joey lives paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck's luxury flat—a world away from Joey's cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey's imagining a future between them, and Chuck's moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new.

Funny, excruciating, and true, I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but still trying.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571387458

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 21 May 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 272

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Jem Calder Literary Fiction

About the Author

Jem Calder was born in Cambridge, and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly and Granta, and his debut short story collection, Reward System, was published by Faber in 2022.

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    Each time Joey leaves Chuck's plush apartment, it's with a fuller sense that he might just be the person for her. His smile, his maturity. The shared interests. The way he warms her hands in his. Ignore the differences - the twelve-year-age gap, her small damp house-share, her meagre barista wages. Trying to explain it doesn't explain it at all....
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