Happy Hour

Elizabeth Strout meets Marian Keyes in this wonderful, joyful, funny debut novel from Australian author Jacquie Byron.

'This is really good fun' - Jane Harper

'A bristling, fearless, funny look at loss' - Australian Women's Weekly

'Effortlessly readable' - The Age/SMH

Gin in one hand, paintbrush in the other, Franny Calderwood has turned her back on the world. Having lost her husband, Frank, she lives the life of a decadent recluse, accompanied by her two dogs, Whisky and Soda, and a stuffed piratical cat.

Then the Salernos move in next door—a charming trio: newly single mother Sallyanne, moody teenager Dee and eccentric eight-year-old Josh—and Franny finds herself drawn into the chaos of their lives in eccentric, hilarious and sometimes misguided ways. These friendships bring her to life, artistic Josh reminding her of the beauty of life, and passionate Dee re-igniting the enjoyment of glamour and adventure that Franny used to share with Frank.

But when a catastrophe forces Franny to confront the pain beneath her wisecracks and culinary exploits, she comes to realise that, while she may have lost Frank, she doesn't have to lose herself as well.

A powerful story about one woman, two dogs and the family next door, Happy Hour is a riotous and heart-warming insight into true love, loss and friendship.

'Happy Hour caught my attention and held it right from the get-go.' - Maya Linnell

About the Author

Jacquie Byron grew up with wishing-chairs and Trixie Belden. Her love of reading morphed into a love of writing, leading her to study journalism while waitressing her way around various bars and tables in Melbourne and, for a short stint, the UK. Collecting and sharing stories has kept her busy professionally for more than twenty-five years, taking her from the Ogden Museum in New Orleans to an IDP camp in Uganda. Shocking herself as much as those around her, Jacquie has been a motoring writer, a jewellery editor, a fashion publicist and more. Today she writes for business and for pleasure. Happy Hour is her first novel. Whisky is her first cairn.