Henry is at her best in “Happy Place,” a novel that ruminates on what it means to fight for love.
Harriet has spent her entire adult life loving Wyn. Their relationship consumes her, and the fact that she met him through her best friends, Sabrina and Cleo, only makes her love him more. Between Wyn and her friends, Harriet found the family she had always wanted in college, and she plans to spend her entire life with them.
When Wyn abruptly breaks up with her after she starts her medical school residency, Harriet is heartbroken and terrified she’s going to lose everyone she loves. She manages to avoid telling Sabrina and Cleo what happened for five months, planning to burst their bubble on their annual group trip to Maine.
Then Wyn shows up, telling her they’ll have to pretend to be a couple for the duration of the trip, since it’s the last vacation the group will ever spend in the house they’ve loved for years. Harriet doesn’t want to cause her friends pain, so she’s willing to torture herself for a week.
All she has to do is stop herself from asking Wyn what went wrong for seven days, but as his displays of fake affection start to feel more and more real, Harriet might have to face her fear of rocking the boat if she wants a true chance at happiness.
