This Is Happiness

By Niall Williams

Shortlisted for Best Novel in the Irish Book Awards

Longlisted for the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

From the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the Rain

'Lyrical, tender and sumptuously perceptive' Sunday Times

'A love letter to the sleepy, unhurried and delightfully odd Ireland that is all but gone' Irish Independent

After dropping out of the seminary, seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe finds himself back in Faha, a small Irish parish where nothing ever changes, including the ever-falling rain.

But one morning the rain stops and news reaches the parish – the electricity is finally arriving. With it comes a lodger to Noel's home, Christy McMahon. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed.

As Noel navigates his coming-of-age by Christy's side, falling in and out of love, Christy's buried past gradually comes to light, casting a glow on a small world and making it new.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Sep 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526609342

Niall Williams

Niall Williams was born in 1958 and lives in Kiltumper, Ireland, with his wife Christine and their two children. He is the author of several novels, including Four Letters of Love, which was sold in over twenty countries and is an international bestseller.

Reviews for This Is Happiness

[sblock_16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish I could give this six stars. Will read again.

[donnamariemerritt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"O, now!" One of the most pleasurable books I've read in some time. Set in Ireland in the mid 20th century in a town without electricity, Faha has an electricity all its own in the narrator's storytelling. Read it slowly to savor the language and the subtle (at times, laugh-out-loud) humor. Happiness is reading this book and reflecting on the insights of an old man.Copyediting quibble. Most of the time references to the town are spelled Fahaean, but in three or four spots, it was Fahean.

[ozzer_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Williams gives us a loving glimpse into everyday life in an isolated Irish village during a brief period in the late 1950’s. He uses this setting to highlight our shared human condition and to ponder some bigger questions including: What is the impact of change on people and communities? How do religion, stories, and music act to sustain people and communities? And especially, as the title suggests, what constitutes real happiness?The narrator is Noel Crowe (Noe), a 78-year-old man fondly reminiscing about a Spring during his youth when he lived with his grandparents in the village of Faha. This is a place where it rains a lot, but during this time Faha is having a spell of freakishly good weather. The people colorfully refer to this as “Spanishing the air.” At 17, the pubescent Noe is coming-of-age and struggling with his faith, the meaning of manhood, his awakening sexuality, and the recent death of his mother.Christy McMahon is lodging with Noe’s grandparents while working to connect the village to the national electric grid. He likewise is struggling with his own demons. In Christy’s case, it is a perceived need to repair harm he may have caused to Annie Mooney, when he left her waiting at the altar 50 years earlier to explore the world. Annie is the widow of Faha’s pharmacist.Noe and Christy spend their spare time cycling the lanes around Faha stopping at neighborhood pubs to listen to local music and have a few drinks. During their time together, Christy entertains Noe with stories of his travels while serving as his mentor.Williams gives us three plotlines in the novel. One is the long-overdue electrification project and how the community deals with the attendant inconveniences and the big changes that are soon to come. The second is Christy’s goal of repairing his relationship to Annie Mooney. And the third involves Noe’s romantic crushes on the three daughters of the village doctor. Williams embellishes these stories with plenty of local color and humor, especially Sunday masses at the Catholic church and make-out sessions at a local movie house. Also, he exquisitely characterizes many of the idiosyncratic inhabitants of the village. The most important of these being Noe’s grandparents—the ever-sunny Ganga (grandfather) and the dour Doady (grandmother).Williams masterfully captures the nature of an octogenarian remembering events from his past by writing a beautiful, slow, and meandering narrative filled with sidetracks, personal opinions, and memories. This works extremely well when combined with well-drawn characters and multiple quotidian observations on the time and place.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book: all the words; all the images; the ageless allure of the coast of Kerry; approaching the matter the Fahean way, by coming at the thing the long way round; the day the rain started; the day the rain stopped, eccentricity being the norm. I LOVED THIS BOOK. “O now!”

[maryreinert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Told by an aged narrator looking back on his youth, this is what I would call a well-written "sweet" book. Noah "Noe" Crowe left the seminary after a crisis of faith but comes to live with his grandparents in a very small village in Ireland. His grandparents also take in a boarder, Christy, who is working for the company that is bringing electricity to the village; Christy also has a deep secret that he has come to atone. There was much of this book that I loved -- almost brought tears in places -- and then at times, the writing just seemed too much of a good thing. The characterization of the grandparents, Doady and Ganga, were well drawn; the other characters in the community provided great support characters. Christy's remorse involves the widowed wife of the town chemist. Noe somehow manages to find himself slowly learning the story and seeing it from young eyes is much different than seeing it from the narrator as an old man.Overall, I really liked the book. Had to rush somewhat to finish it so that might has had an impact. I would definitely read more by the author. There were some sentences I actually wanted to write and keep.

[tangledthread · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

During Holy Week of 1958 three events launch change that will forever change the west country town of Faha in Ireland. The ever present rain has stopped. Seventeen year old Noe Crowe has arrived to live with his grandparents after leaving the seminary in order to discover what it is to live a meaningful life. And electricity is coming to Faha.This is both a coming of age story for Noe, as well as a story about community and redemption. It is Irish prose that is circuitous, and compassionate to the characters. There is a story of redemption for Christy, a man in his 60's who is intent on making amends for the wrongs in his past, including leaving a bride at the altar. And the arrival of electricity is a metaphor for the current of love the runs through Faha.I don't think the style of writing will appeal to everyone. But if you like good Irish literature, here's a story for you.

[iudita_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Almost every sentence in this book was notable. It was a beautifully written, gentle story filled with warm humour and tender moments. Better suited to those who appreciate character and setting over plot. It was a lovely and memorable reading experience.

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a gorgeous book in every respect. My only reservation is that I chose to listen to this book rather than to read it. Listening is a pretty good way to enjoy a book usually, but for a book that has beautiful language and prose like this one does, listening somewhat lessens the impact and the enjoyment. But even so, I truly enjoyed the story. The book is set in the 1950's in a little village in Ireland called Faha = a little village that hasn't changed for a thousand years. The story is told from the viewpoint of a a 17-year-old boy by name of Noel Crowe who has been sent to live with his grandparents whom he calls Ganga and Dody. Not only is this book beautifully written, Williams has created some truly unforgettable characters. We follow Noel as he grows to adulthood surrounded by the love of his grandparents, and with the help of a stranger who has come to town to help install electricity in the village. Christie lives in his grandparents house and Noel comes to love and revere him. Christie is an enigma, but his mysteriousness is slowly explained throughout the book. As Noel discovers more of Christie's past, he is learning his own life lessons at the same time. The book's impetus is the whole process of getting the electricity up and running in Faha, and the story ebbs and flows around this. The pace is slow and leisurely just as life in Faha is, but even with this slow pace we learn so much about Noel, his grandparents, Christie, and the other marvellous people in Faha. Dermot Crowley does a marvellous job of narrating this book, and he made it come to life for me. I highly recommend this book, but would suggest to read it rather then listen to it so you don't take a chance on missing any of the beautiful prose. you won't regret the time spent getting to know Noel and Faha.

[jphamilton-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like books by Niall Williams, as he always writes beautiful lines, but with This is Happiness, those lines didn’t make a story that ever really worked for, or connected with me. The parts were better than the whole. The last half of the book was a story around the electrification of Ireland, the old people that live there then, and the main character’s infatuation with the three daughters of the local doctor. The story was of a simpler time, when people lived more isolated, but were also more connected to their local community. Great feel, great color, but it all left me wanting. So, I’ll leave you with some of those lines that jumped out at me.“I came to understand him to mean you could stop at, not all, but most of the moments of your life, stop for one heartbeat and, no matter what the state of your head or heart, say This is happiness, because of the simple truth that you were alive to say it.” “Rain in Clare chose intercourse with wind, all kinds, without discrimination.”“The fact is, I did not appreciate until much later in my own life what subterfuge and sacrifice it took to be independent and undefeated by the pressures of reality.”“I know I was each day singed some more by the terrible knowledge that I could not truly help her, that she was dying in the same slow way most people die, minute by minute and day by day.”“We all have to find a story to live by and live inside, or we couldn’t endure the certainty of suffering.”I love to read a book’s acknowledgements page, as I’m always curious about how people write about their loved ones.“And lastly, to Christine Breen, the beginning and end of everything.”

[librarygeek33 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Takes the reader to another time and place. The writing is like poetry, although it takes a little getting used to. I'm not Irish and I was laughing out loud. I imagine people more in the know would even appreciate the humor more. Makes me want to read his other books.

[paintgirl-907967 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Love the language, bogs down a bit with Noe’s romantic adventures, beautiful conclusion

[stevesmits · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The sublime works of great composers often employ simple motifs, just a few notes, and with skill and subtlety delve deeply into the richness the motifs can yield. This wonderful book reminds me of that. There are a few themes that make up the novel -- a teenage boy struggling to find himself in life and love, an older man on a quest to gain forgiveness from a women he wronged 50 years before, and a rural culture in a small village in the west of Ireland and its impending thrust into modern life through electification.Noel, or Noe, is the narrator, now an old man who, through time's lens of perception, is recounting his memories of being seventeen years-old. He had come from Dublin to Faha in county Clare to live with his grandparents after the death of his mother and abandoning seminary. Christy is a sort of wanderer who, after being away from Ireland for decades, arrives in Faha to work on the electrification project. Noe's grandparents, Doady and Ganga, are archtypical examples of the inhabitants of the small Irish village -- kind, knowing and comfortable in the way things have always been. The widow Mrs. Gaffney, nee Annie Mooney, had been abandoned at the altar decades earlier by Christy who is now trying gain her forgiveness and, improbably, rekindle her affection. The author's portrayal of minor characters in the village is marvelous.Noe becomes close to Christy and, learning of his quest for Annie, attempts clumsily to build an opening for him to her. Christy has no chance with Annie, but at the end they connect warmly, sharing their memories and how life for them has played out over their many years apart. Noe falls in love with the three beautiful sisters of the local doctor who, he knows, are in a class far above his. The people of the village welcome the prospect of electricity, but can see how their traditions and culture will be lost after the event.The writing is magnificient. It is the sort of prose where you find yourself reading sentences and paragraphs over and over and aloud to whoever's in the room. The words do evoke the feeling that passages in great music inspires in the careful listener.