A Happy Death (A Novel)

All Fours meets Albert Camus in this joyful, mordant, poignant, and engrossing novel by “a master storyteller” (The Guardian)

Middle-aged and done with the cheap promises of capitalism, the biting, horny, and philosophical Mina abandons Manhattan for Edinburgh and a life devoted to pleasure and solitude. She joins a sauna, takes up jiu-jitsu, and scours dating apps for play with men half her age. But when she meets Maisie, a sassy old Scotswoman, and Robert, a terminal American client with a memoir to write, the purpose of her life suddenly, and very brightly, comes into focus. An uproarious, unforgettable portrait, A Happy Death explores the monumental surprises that life can bring as one woman attempts to seize all she can for herself and everyone around her. 

"Nayeri faces our greatest fear head on: how do we approach our own death and . . . live as fully, exuberantly, and vividly as we can before that day arrives? The answer lies within these pages: community, chosen family, sensuality, and a joy that spreads unstoppably from the center of a big heart into the world beyond. A brilliant, hilarious book."

—Fiona Mozley, author of the Booker-shortlisted Elmet
 

“In Dina Nayeri’s capable hands, A Happy Death expands into a moving exploration of what we owe to ourselves, our friends and neighbors, and even the strangers we encounter on dating apps, at the public sauna, and on the mat in jiu-jitsu class.”

—Tom Perrotta, author of Ghost Town