Happiness: A Memoir: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After
By Heather Harpham
320 pages;
Henry Holt and Co.
Heather and Brian are an unlikely couple. Heather is a
frenetic and disorganized "actor-teacher." Brian is as dependable as
the hands of a clock. When their baby daughter, Gracie, is diagnosed with a
life-threatening illness, the two must navigate her needs and their own
differences. Adding to this, just are they are "settling into an
understanding that a second child was out of the question and beyond [their]
limited powers," Harpham finds herself staring at a positive pregnancy
test. There is no way for the family to know, of course, that this new son will
be the key to saving Gracie's life and their own. Writes Harpham, "I know
other parents in this hospital, on this ward, in this room ... have
tried to lash their child, psychically to their own body with the twine of
love, righteous anger, magical thinking, with anything, everything, they had."
Harpham does all this and more, bringing us along on her raw, real journey of
healing—not just of her child but also of her marriage.
— Kelly McMasters
