Piercingly intelligent and interrogative ... Registers tectonic shifts taking place in the world and provokes us to think anew about war, and what we take for peace and happiness
Spectator
An unusual novel that wears its cleverness lightly; tender, but with an eyes-wide-open recognition that the world is harsh
The Times
Forna is a risk-taker, a ... Read morewriter who doesn't hold back from tackling big themes ... Happiness is one of a handful of contemporary novels that take both the human condition and the animal condition seriously. Entering Forna's sweeping universe transports you to a place that feels familiar, but also totally feral and full of surprises
Financial Times
Forna's voice is relentlessly compelling, her ability to summon atmosphere extraordinary, her sympathetic portrayal of traffic wardens, street performers, security guards, hotel doormen a thing of lasting beauty. It is as if the author has privileged access into multiple spheres of existence, learning the secret languages of each, conferring dignity and consequence on these figures who often pass unseen and unrecorded in our accounts of contemporary life
Observer
Forna's writing exudes an excitable kind of curiosity - about people, about the world. She has a magpie eye for interesting facts and observations ... She has a big heart and impressive breadth, writing with equal acuity and empathy about women and men, Americans and Africans, professors and traffic wardens ... There is so much to enjoy in this book
New Statesman
Aminatta Forna expertly weaves her characters' stories, past and present, in and out of the larger story of London, which becomes as rich a character as the human beings and, indeed, the foxes; and she makes us care deeply about them all, the foxes, the people and the city. A terrific novel
Salman Rushdie
One of the best novels I've read in quite a while - intelligent, deep and poignant. It sheds smooth, unflinching light upon the unseen. Forna is at the top of her game
Rabih Alameddine, author of The Angel of History and An Unnecessary Woman
Both generous in spirit and thought-provoking
Mail on Sunday
She has a deft touch and a warm style ... Happiness is full of elegantly-written passages that you will want to revisit to make sense of changing circumstances in an increasingly tumultuous world
Evening Standard
From the understated and inexorable pull of plot and emotion to the luxuriousness of the details of varied ways of living and being to the tidal pull of language, Happiness is a great accomplishment
Viet Thanh Nguyen Powerfully affecting
Alex Preston, 'The Best Fiction of 2018'
Observer
A deeply moving novel about love, trauma and the ties that bind us together. Beautifully written and ingeniously allegorical. Aminatta Forna is a writer of phenomenal talent, with a clear eye, a fearless voice, and an extraordinary range
Laila Lalami, author of The Moor's Account
Her prose quietly grips us by the throat and then tightens its hold. It is storytelling at its most taut ... A gifted writer
Praise for 'The Hired Man'
Independent
- The best writer of fiction in this field ... The intelligence of Forna's storytelling is testament to a woman who has deep emotional resources
Praise for 'The Hired Man'
Evening Standard
A fresh, immaculate stylist and an unsparing chronicler of human vices ... Profound
Praise for 'The Hired Man'
The Times
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