The Happiest Days — Cressida Connolly

Even happy days come to an end. In this remarkable collection, Cressida Connolly explores the lives of children and young people who find themselves split in two. A conversation on a trip to the zoo heralds the end of a family; a boy watches his father fold Aunt Rose into his arms and loses his vocation; a young girl grows jealous of the attention paid to her dying sister.

Examining familiar emotions--love, loss, jealousy, loneliness--with a fresh eye, The Happiest Days is an exciting, original, startling debut.