The carefully ordered life of a middle-aged man falls apart when he is forced to return to his hometown to care for his elderly father, and meets a woman who has as many secrets as he does ... A warmly funny, poignant, life-affirming novel about coming home and letting go. `A moving and emotional story told with warmth and humour. The concept is original, but the challenges the characters face are so relatable ... a book to curl up with and forget about the world¿ Eleanor Ray `Gentle, poignant and often witty - a love story that's also about loyalty, friendship, betrayal and forgiveness ... A beautifully written and intelligent novel about working out who and what really matters¿ Susan Elliot Wright ______ Knowing exactly when you'll die is one thing... Learning how to live is another... Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life. Born in 1986, when Halley's Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can't die. He has proof. With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever. But when Robin's sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago. Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she's unlike anyone he's ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin and he's hiding even more from her. A warmly funny, poignant and exquisite novel about coming home and letting go, Happy Is the One asks what is truly important in a chaotic, unpredictable world... For fans of Hazel Prior, Rachel Joyce and Jonas Jonasson ____ Praise for Katie Allen `A heart-wrenching, warm and funny debut¿ Guardian `Emotionally engaging, witty, clever and wonderfully satisfying¿ Daily Express `The perfect mix of clever, funny and intensely moving¿ Cari Rosen `A heartbreaking, deeply moving and wonderfully witty tale, which celebrates all it means to be human¿ Isabelle Broom