ReadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2025

An Archive of Happiness

Elizabeth Reeder author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penned in the Margins

Published:15th Sep '20

Should be back in stock very soon

An Archive of Happiness cover

*Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize*

An Archive of Happiness is set in the Scottish Highlands over the course of one day during the Avens family’s annual get-together.

It’s the summer solstice and theirs is a fractured family, broken by arguments, by things said and not said, by a mother who has left and a father who was left behind.

What happens on this day will force them to cleave together to survive and redraw the traditional bonds of family.

"This is such a big-hearted, intricate and compelling novel: it is as robust and delicate as the landscapes it inhabits. Reeder tells a story of loss, fracture and repair, every sentence infused with both clear-sightedness and love."

-Jenn Ashworth

"An Archive of Happiness is a poignant, multi-layered exploration of family relationships brilliantly revealed. A haunting story told in exquisite prose."

- Ruth Hogan

'An Archive of Happiness is a poignant, multi-layered exploration of family relationships brilliantly revealed. A haunting story told in exquisite prose.' Ruth Hogan ; 'This is such a big-hearted, intricate and compelling novel: it is as robust and delicate as the landscapes it inhabits. Reeder tells a story of loss, fracture and repair, every sentence infused with both clear-sightedness and love.' Jenn Ashworth

  • Long-listed for Highland Book Prize 2020 (UK)

ISBN: 9781908058775

Dimensions: 216mm x 138mm x 23mm

Weight: 350g

300 pages