Un/Happy

A Novel Ephraim, I wanted to ask my husband, but didn’t. Why is life so mixed up? Why are you such a good father, but sometimes act like an enthusiastic teenager? How is it that you know how to give such devoted love, yet don’t know how to give the children a slightly more elevated role model? You want so badly to make me happy. You’re willing to spend ten minutes describing the wonders of the chicken I make and don’t understand that speaking less about your taste and preferences in food would make me happier. It’s not nice to compare, but the only word for my mother is “radiant” when she gives a mock sigh and says, “Even if I‘d put sugar into the chicken soup instead of salt, Tatty wouldn’t notice.”  Tatty never tried to make Mommy happy the way you’re trying to make me happy, and Tatty—without all the great effort you’re putting in—was much more successful. Penina, the daughter of a talmid chacham, wonders if she can find complete happiness in her home. Her husband Ephraim is goodhearted and a baal middos, but how can she be happy if the main thing she thirsts for is missing? Who inks the borders of happiness? And can joy be found on both sides? Un/Happy joins Sarah Malovitzsky’s previous moving and thought-provoking novels: Ice Cubes and The Greener Path. By Sarah Malovitzsky