Happiness

A chance encounter between American scientist Jean and Ghanaian psychiatrist Attila proves beneficial for both. However, it's listeners who benefit from Robin Miles's superb performance. She makes every moment, every encounter, every new character completely credible. Jean is studying the habits of urban foxes, while Attila, an expert on trauma, is in London to search for the teenage son of a friend who disappeared, perhaps during an immigration sweep. The two grow closer through conversations, frequently offering intelligent views on what is normal, what is cruel, and what our responsibility is to one another and to the planet. Though the story itself is a bit preachy at times with perhaps one too many coincidences for comfort, Miles is simply wonderful delivering Forna's fourth novel. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2018
This elegant novel from Forna (The Memory of Love) opens with a chance encounter: Ghanaian psychiatrist Attila Asare and American urban wildlife biologist Jean Turane collide while walking across London’s Waterloo Bridge. Normally dispatched to war zones for his expertise in post-traumatic stress disorder, Attila is in town to speak at a conference. Jean lives there and researches the city’s foxes. After a second encounter on the bridge, Attila offers to buy Jean a drink at his hotel bar and reveals that he had a secondary reason to come to London: to locate the teenage son of a friend who might have been swept up by immigration officials. Jean volunteers to help and eventually organizes a search to find the young runaway. A diverse cast of supporting characters (many of whom are West African immigrants) and Forna’s rich descriptions of London make the novel potent and immersive. With their professional expertise and contemplative personalities, the protagonists offer wisdom on the nature of cruelty, the fear of the untamable, and the challenge of defining normality. The occasional bit of awkward dialogue and a convoluted plot will strain some readers’ patience. Despite a reliance on coincidence to drive her narrative, Forna’s gift for characterization allows her to ask genuine, practical questions about the delicate problems of the human condition in this ambitious novel.