cover image Happy Now?

Happy Now?

Katherine Shonk, . . Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (262pp) ISBN 978-0-374-28143-4

The latest from Shonk (The Red Passport ) will have anyone who’s ever complained about a crappy Valentine’s Day counting their blessings. Not quite two years after artist and dollhouse builder Claire Kessler gets married to Jay, he kills himself on Valentine’s Day, leaving a devastated Claire to learn how to navigate life alone. Ironically, Jay—who, the reader learns, suffered from crippling episodes of depression—was a psychologist, with a specialty in studying infant behavior. His knowledge about his condition didn’t make it any easier for him to deal with it, Claire learns, as she gathers the courage to read the packet of instructions he left behind, containing information on everything from taking care of his difficult cat, to a note exhorting Claire not to blame herself for his act. Both tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud funny, this will have readers rooting for its brave heroine and hoping that, indeed, she will one day be happy again. (Apr.)