Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Happiness
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Happiness
Buy Now for £17.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
Summary
Waterloo Bridge, London. Two strangers collide.
Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist, and Jean, an American studying the habits of urban foxes. From this chance encounter in the midst of the rush of a great city, numerous moments of connections span out and interweave, bringing disparate lives together.
Attila has arrived in London with two tasks: to deliver a keynote speech on trauma and to check up on the daughter of friends, his 'niece', Ama, who hasn't called home in a while. It soon emerges that she has been swept up in an immigration crackdown - and now her young son Tano is missing.
When, by chance, Attila bumps into Jean again, she joins him in his search for Tano, mobilising into action the network she has built up, mainly from the many West African immigrants working London's myriad streets, of volunteer fox-spotters: security guards, hotel doormen, traffic wardens. All unite to help and as the search continues, a deepening friendship between Attila and Jean unfolds.
Critic reviews
"Her prose quietly grips us by the throat and then tightens its hold. It is storytelling at its most taut...A gifted writer." (Independent)
"A fresh, immaculate stylist and an unsparing chronicler of human vices...Profound." (The Times)
More from the same
What listeners say about Happiness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- TH Island
- 31-08-18
Loved it!
Will certainly read more from Aminatta Forna. What a pleasure to listen to Robin Miles! Great!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- CFye
- 04-12-20
Deep, gentle, lovely
A lovely gentle listen. I thoroughly enjoyed the slowly emerging depth of this book. Great narration.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gary Robinson
- 23-07-20
Wholesome, rich and reassuring.
Simple story weaving in insights into lives of people who are often overlooked. Narrator struggled with British accents.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 10-11-21
After sad things, happy may come
I loved this book. Especially if you are a Londoner, you can walk its streets with the author. If you like the rich mix of people that the city provides, or are of African heritage, or care about trees or foxes or immigration rights, all are here. A rich panoply of people and stories held together by the psychological theme of PTSD.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Travel Companion
- 30-12-21
More editing please!
Some very interesting story lines but far too many, making it seem cluttered and disappointing. At the very least cut the Twitter comments!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Janey L
- 08-03-22
Slow burn but ultimately rewarding
it's a slow burn with a powerful message. Wide ranging content in terms of themes, characters, locations and cultures.
Forna is a thinker and she has framed this novel to encapsulate big ideas - what makes us human; explorations of love, war, migration, cultural differences and similarities; connection and community, trauma and suffering - and, as per the title, happiness.
Significant sections of the novel are devoted to animals in the wild - wolves, coyotes, foxes - and parakeets. The concept of hunters and hunted repeats across the book.
Forna's writing is often beautiful and subtle but it is not always easy to remain absorbed in the very fractured narrative.
it's a book worth sticking with for its ultimate message, for the tenderness and compassion evoked and for what it reveals about human nature .
To begin with I found the rather staccato style of the narrator off putting but I grew to feel comfortable with her.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- B. Taylor
- 22-02-21
wonderful book, let down a little by the narration
The book is beautiful, a story and characters who will stay with me for years. But the narrator was disappointing - accents all over the place, some words mispronouned, etc, etc.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rose11
- 17-12-20
Sublime
An refreshingly original novel. Humans as well as animals are protagonists, and they are beautifully drawn. The different love stories are gripping and heartwarming. Forna is an amazing storyteller but also an educator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-01-21
Aminatta Forma is brilliant
this author has become one of my favourites
loved the characters each with a brief background story. the narrator was excellent in her delivery of the voices of the characters
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 25-10-20
A new favorite
The narration made the story even better, and it was good on its own already. This is a new favorite amd I can't wait to get to other Forna's books!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!