I Want You to Be Happy

<p><b>AN <i>OBSERVER </i>BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2026<br><br></b><b>'Prepare to see this everywhere.' <i>Elle</i><br>'I was totally invested.' Saba Sams</b><br><b>'I was utterly enthralled.' Leslie Jamison <br>'Jem Calder is my new favourite writer.' Andrew O'Hagan</b><br><b>‘Will appeal to <i>Cleopatra And Frankenstein</i> fans, and the setting and themes is reminiscent of <i>Evenings And Weekends</i>.’ <i>Stylist</i><br></b><br>Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He’s in his mid-thirties; she’s twelve years younger. He’s long abandoned his ambition of becoming a novelist and now works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. 'Lead copywriter,' he corrects himself. Joey lives paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck’s luxury flat—a world away from Joey’s cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey’s imagining a future between them, and Chuck’s moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new.<br><br>Funny, excruciating, and true, <i>I Want You to Be Happy </i>is a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but still trying.</p>