Viking lands 'compulsive' literary speculative novel from Jameson

Viking has landed a “compulsive” literary speculative novel by Hanna Jameson. 

Katy Loftus signed UK and Commonwealth rights for Are You Happy Now from Marilia Savvides at 42, with publisher Harriet Bourton now working with Jameson. It will be published as a lead title in February 2023.  

The book is described as an “intensely compulsive, beautifully vivid human story about one dramatic moment and the chain of events it starts as four young people’s lives collide at a New York wedding”. 

Bourton said: “Hanna’s new novel is startlingly inventive, stylishly written and socially provocative and it packs a huge emotional punch. If you imagine a contemporary, dystopian, existential love story with strong Sally Rooney vibes, you’d come close to the reading experience of Are You Happy Now. Fans of Emily John St Mandel, Karen Thompson Walker and The Power are going to be obsessed with it.” 

Jameson said: “Are You Happy Now is an extremely personal novel to me, in which I got to explore a lot of things close to my heart. I couldn’t be prouder and consider it not just my best work to date but the first novel I’ve written that I can say I’m completely happy with—a rare thing for any writer.” 

Savvides added: “This is Hanna Jameson at her best yet. Are You Happy Now expertly tells a story filled with yearning, love and hope in the face of existential terror and nihilism, capturing the mood of a generation that still dreams of so much in a world that feels so unstable. It’s a novel of love stories amidst chaos and horror and I am so excited for readers to fall in love with it the way we have.”