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A review by snoakes7001
Happiness by Aminatta Forna
5.0
Happiness starts with two strangers meeting on a London Bridge. Jean is an American living in the city researching urban foxes. Attila is a Ghanaian psychiatrist, an expert in PTSD and a regular visitor to London, here this time to give the keynote speech at a conference, but also to check up on his niece Ama and visit an old colleague.
Ama turns up, but her son is missing and when coincidence brings Jean and Attila together again they join forces to search for the boy. Jean has developed a network of street cleaners, security guards and traffic wardens, mostly African immigrants, who give her information about fox sightings. They rally round bringing their unique experiences of the city to the search. As Attila and Jean get closer we learn more about their past histories, their previous marriages, their work and their lives.
It's a beautiful gentle novel about love and loss, hope and resilience, set in the spaces in the cityscape that go unnoticed and are populated by people who are often overlooked. Thoroughly recommended.
Ama turns up, but her son is missing and when coincidence brings Jean and Attila together again they join forces to search for the boy. Jean has developed a network of street cleaners, security guards and traffic wardens, mostly African immigrants, who give her information about fox sightings. They rally round bringing their unique experiences of the city to the search. As Attila and Jean get closer we learn more about their past histories, their previous marriages, their work and their lives.
It's a beautiful gentle novel about love and loss, hope and resilience, set in the spaces in the cityscape that go unnoticed and are populated by people who are often overlooked. Thoroughly recommended.