The Forgotten Guide to Happiness: The unmissable debut, perfect for anyone who loved THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS
’WONDERFULLY UPLIFTING’ Trisha AshleySometimes, happiness can be found where you least expect it…'Absolutely and completely adorable, this all embracing story will break, mend, and fill hearts with warmth, humour and love' LOVEREADINGTwenty-eight-year-old Lana Green has never been good at making friends. She’s perfectly happy to be left alone with her books. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself.Nancy Ellis Hall was once a celebrated writer. Now eighty, she lives alone in her North London house, and thinks she’s doing just fine. But dementia is loosening Nancy’s grip on the world.When Lana and Nancy become unconventional house mates, their lives will change in ways they never expected. But can an unusual friendship rescue two women who don’t realise they need to be saved?An irresistible story of love, memory and the power of friendship that readers of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Lido will adore.Readers love The Forgotten Guide to Happiness‘A warm, beautiful read … tender and inspiring’ Goodreads Reviewer‘A truly delightful story about love, friendship and figuring out what matters the most. It wraps itself around you like a warm, comforting blanket and it made me chuckle, a little emotional at times but in the end, pretty happy’ Goodreads Reviewer‘I wholeheartedly recommend this book to other readers. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this fantastic author. 5* out of 5*’ The Ginger Book Geek‘An enchanting, thought-provoking read which left me with a massive smile on my face’ The Writing Garnet‘Oh boy did this novel warm my heart from the top of my head to the tips of my toes … a different kind of love story and will definitely make you think about life, love, friendship, and what really matters in this world’ Goodreads reviewer‘Endowed with one of the perfect endings, this uplifting book will make you happy irrespective of whether you forgot the feeling or not’ Goodreads reviewer
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Published by Avon an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street,
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Sophie Jenkins 2018
Cover design © Sinem Erkas 2018
Sophie Jenkins asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008281809
Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780008281816
Version: 2018-05-11
To Paul and Joe, Elaine, Pat, William and George,
for humour, happiness, tolerance and joy;
and for Rowena, with love
Table of Contents
Chapter Two: Heroic Attributes
Chapter Four: Catalysts for Change
Chapter Eight: Words, Words, Words
Chapter Eleven: The Science of Attraction
Chapter Twelve: Defining Stories
Chapter Thirteen: The Way Forward
Chapter Fourteen: A Source of Inspiration
Chapter Seventeen: Antagonists
Chapter Nineteen: The Shape of the Hole in the Hero’s World
Chapter Twenty: Return of the Antagonist
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Wrong Turning
Chapter Twenty-Three: Conflict
Chapter Twenty-Four: Consequences
Chapter Twenty-Five: Departures and Reunions
Chapter Twenty-Six: Reliving the Dream
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Viewpoints
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Equanimity
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Regrouping
Chapter Thirty: The Lonely Hearts Literary Society
Chapter Thirty-One: External Conflict
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Dream Realised
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Dark Night of the Soul
Chapter Thirty-Six: Resurrection
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Settings
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Destination
How I thought my story ended …
After months on the road in her camper van, she was coming to her journey’s end, to the place where it had begun. In the distance the city sparkled. Marco drove through the outskirts of north London and the leafy suburban streets, into Highgate Village with its Victorian and Georgian houses, and down Highgate West Hill where he bumped up the kerb and parked up next to a red-bricked mansion block with a green wooden gate flanked by dark hedges. The engine cooled and ticked.
‘This is it.’ Marco took the key out of the ignition and kissed her, his mouth warm on hers. ‘We’re home, Lauren,’ he said softly, watching her, his eyes dark with love.
The word took her breath away. She looked up at the building with its warm, lighted windows.
She thought back to the moment everything had changed. The moment he’d asked her to go back with him.
‘I hoped you might be ready to come home now,’ he’d said, squeezing her hand. ‘Come home with me.’
‘Home?’ For a moment she’d felt as if she was stepping on quicksand; that off-balance terror and the thrill of excitement.
‘Lauren, I love your independence. You’re the most self-contained woman I’ve ever met. You and me, we’re two of a kind, don’t you think? You can have all the freedom you need and I’ll be away some of the time anyway. It will be like it is now except I won’t have to rely on a tracker to find you.’
‘That’s crazy!’ she’d said. Put together all the time they’d known each other and it amounted to a few weeks at the most.
‘I know,’ he’d said cheerfully, taking it as a compliment.
And now, for the first time, they weren’t parting with promises to keep in touch, promises that faded as time passed. Home was togetherness and warmth and permanence and, after nine months of travelling, the word was like a forgotten dream and she was filled with sudden happiness.
Their adventure wasn’t over.
It was just about to begin.
Some days start off looking hopeful: it’s August, the sun is out, the birds are singing, people are smiling – this was one of those days. I was waiting with anticipation for my literary agent Kitty Golding to let me into her apartment block. She lives in the penthouse of a modern architectural block bordering Regent’s Park, which is five storeys high and glass-fronted, giving it the effect of a doll’s house. On the ground floor, the white sofa had its back to the window and I could see the top of a head of black, curly hair – could be a man or woman, girl, boy or dog. I was itching to reach in and rearrange the furniture.
