Annie isn’t enjoying life – her mother has Alzheimer’s, her admin job is boring, her husband has moved out and she barely speaks to her flatmate. While visiting her mother in hospital, Annie comes across Polly, a colourful character who has a terminal brain tumour. She’s been given three months to live and wants Annie to do the Hundred Happy Days project where you do one thing every day that makes you happy.
With characters who are easy to warm to, this is a life-affirming story about loss, grief and friendship that will inspire people to find the good in every day.
How to Be Happy, (aka as Something Like Happy) by Eva Woods, is about seizing the day and always remembering to live in the moment. The summary says: "'It's simple, really. You're just meant to do one thing every day that makes you happy. Could be little things. Could be big. In fact, we're doing one right now...'
Annie Hebden is stuck. Stuck in her boring job, with her irritating roommate, in a life no thirty-five-year-old would want. But deep down, Annie is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she'd once taken for granted - and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard.
Bright, bubbly, intrusive Polly is everything Annie doesn't want in a friend. But Polly is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. Because if recent events have taught Polly anything, it's that your time is too short to waste a single day - which is why she wants Annie to join her on a mission.
One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie's convinced it's impossible, but so is saying no to Polly. And on an unforgettable journey that will force her to open herself to new experiences - and perhaps even new love with the unlikeliest of men - Annie will slowly begin to realise that maybe, just maybe, there's still joy to be found in the world. But then it becomes clear that Polly's about to need her new friend more than ever ... and Annie will have to decide once and for all whether letting others in is a risk worth taking." How to Be Happy is out in October 2017.