RRP $32.95
320pp C Format Trade Paperback
ISBN 9780 645191509
Listen to an author interview on LACE Radio.
The Happiness Jar
WINNER, ACT WRITING AND PUBLISHING AWARD FOR FICTION
RUNNER UP, FAW CHRISTINA STEAD AWARD
Adult Commercial Fiction
Due Date: 1 February, 2023
Read the first 3 chapters here.
Written by Samantha Tidy
The Happiness Jar is an Australian story with quintessential characters, played out against the colourful and pressing heat of the remote Kimberley in the wet season, juxtaposed with the smoky heat and hum of a busy thriving city in India.
A family seemingly breaks apart with the weight of the burdens they have placed on themselves and on each other. The narrative’s conflict is driven by family secrets – the relief at the expected passing of a child with a long-term illness, the unspoken challenges of living with a Vietnam veteran father with PTSD, and two adult siblings and their tolerance of a mother’s neurotic approach to managing life with a husband who has chosen to be declared missing for 20 years.
The Happiness Jar is at its heart, a story of faith in oneself, in each other and of redemption. It the story of three journeys, intertwined and interdependent, in the wake of a loved one’s death, reminding us as it always does, of the shortness of our own lives. This is a love story, of self-love.
Previously winning/shortlisted for the below awards this title is being republished for international distribution.
Winner, ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction 2014
Runner Up, FAW Christina Stead Award 2013
Highly Commended, FAW Jim Hamilton Award, 2010
Shortlist, Penguin Varuna Scholarship, 2011
Shortlist, HarperCollins Varuna Award, 2011
“This is one of the best Australian novels related to what Tidy calls the war nobody would talk about. Tidy does a marvelous job creating and bringing alive the alien world of Australia for this American reader. Her prose is so evocative.
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“This year’s winner (The Happiness Jar) is a compelling story about awakening and renewal. Written in a beautiful and direct style, its journey of transformation takes us from the Australian city, to remote country, to the crowded streets of India. Its characters are wonderfully and vividly drawn: raw and never sentimental. Through their experiences, Samantha Tidy prompts us to reexamine our understandings of grief, legacy, honesty and family. The Happiness Jar is a powerfully constructed and at times surprising work: a thread that runs back and forth in time between different cultures, places and points-of-view. Above all, it is a satisfying, original and engaging novel with a unique perspective, and a worthy winner in 2014.”