This Is Happiness

by Niall Williams

Now an old man, Noel Crowe reflects on the spring when the eternal, infernal rains stopped pouring on the tiny hamlet of Faha and when the sun beat down with an undiscerning assurance. Along with the weather's good tidings came the Irish government's long-awaited promise of electrical service to this lone outpost. Christy is the man utility has charged with ushering the Fahaeans into the ways of the twentieth century. Noel was 17 then, mourning the death of his mother and living with his grandparents while pondering his fate of joining the priesthood. When Christy becomes their lodger, his presence not only heralds the vast changes that are in store for the villagers, he also provides a tutorial for Noel in the ways of the heart. It turns out that Christy is in Faha to do more than sign up new customers: he's there to atone to Annie Mooney, the woman he left at the altar some 50 years before. With a beckoning gentleness that belies the deeper philosophies at play, superb Irish author Williams (History of the Rain, 2014) offers a lilting, magical homage to time and redemption, and a stirring, sentimental journey into the mysteries of love and the possibilities of friendship. - Booklist