Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life.
Born in 1986, when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can’t die. He has proof.
With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever.
But when Robin’s sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago.
Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin.
And he’s hiding even more from her…
What did I think?
Oh my goodness, Katie Allen's new book, Happy is the One, is simply stunning. I loved it from the very first page and my feelings continued to grow the more I read.
Robin knows when he's going to die as he was born during the appearance of Halley's Comet and he is destined to die when the comet returns, just like Mark Twain correctly predicted for his own death. Now you would think that Robin would be able to live a full and happy life, knowing that his number is not coming up until he's 75, but instead he seems to be obsessed with planning every minute of his life until his death....whilst life passes him by.
It's a bit of a culture shock when Robin returns to his home town to live with his elderly dad and it is heartbreaking that his dad can't communicate verbally any more. Robin's mum died when he was young and it seems that he was never close to his dad so it's a difficult time for both of them. As they get to know each other again, things that Robin thought he knew are brought into question, including his inability to die until 2061.
The story is incredibly poignant and my heart ached at certain points as Katie Allen put me through the emotional wringer. I love being so invested in a book that events make me gasp out loud and struggle to hold back my tears. The writing is so warm and witty that there's sure to be something to smile or laugh about on the next page whilst my tears are drying.
Breathtaking, stunning and memorable, Happy is the One is a book with the biggest heart; it made me laugh, cry and everything in between and I simply can't recommend it highly enough.
I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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About the author:
Katie Allen was a journalist and columnist at Guardian and Observer, starting her career as a Reuters correspondent in Berlin and London. Her warmly funny, immensely moving literary debut novel, Everything Happens for a Reason, was based on her own devastating experience of stillbirth and was a number-one digital bestseller, with wide critical acclaim. Katie grew up in Warwickshire and now lives in South London with her family.
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Thanks for the blog tour support x
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