Romance · Similar reads
Books like Happy Place
The best books like Happy Place are Normal People, A Visit from the Goon Squad, and The Year of Magical Thinking. Happy Place by Emily Henry is about grief and loss, identity and self-reinvention, relationships and communication. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Normal People
01
Sally Rooney · Literary fiction
Normal People follows Connell and Marianne from their small-town Irish secondary school through their years at Trinity College Dublin.
A kindred romance read.
Read the summary → - A Visit from the Goon Squad
02
Jennifer Egan · Literary fiction
A Visit from the Goon Squad is a novel told in thirteen chapters, each from a different point of view and sometimes in a radically different form — including one chapter composed entirely as a PowerPoint presentation.
A kindred romance read.
Read the summary → - The Year of Magical Thinking
03
Joan Didion · Memoir
Joan Didion's account of the year following the sudden death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, is the most rigorous and unflinching memoir of grief in American literature.
A kindred romance read.
Read the summary → - A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
04
A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers · Science fiction
Rosemary Harper boards the Wayfarer under a false identity, hoping to escape a family history she cannot speak about.
Both dig into found family.
Read the summary → - Firefly Lane
05
Kristin Hannah · Contemporary fiction
Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey meet in the summer of 1974 as fourteen-year-olds on Firefly Lane in rural Washington State, and their friendship spans three decades — through high school, college, careers in television journalism, marriages, and heartbreak.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Interpreter of Maladies
06
Jhumpa Lahiri · Short stories
Interpreter of Maladies is Jhumpa Lahiri's debut short story collection, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Legends & Lattes
07
Travis Baldree · Fantasy
Viv is an orc barbarian who has spent decades killing things for coin.
Both dig into found family.
Read the summary → - Lincoln in the Bardo
08
George Saunders · Literary fiction
Lincoln in the Bardo takes place over a single night in February 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln visits the crypt where his eleven-year-old son Willie has just been buried.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Norwegian Wood
09
Haruki Murakami · Literary fiction
Norwegian Wood is Murakami's most straightforwardly realist novel and his most personal — a coming-of-age story set in late 1960s Tokyo, narrated by Toru Watanabe, who is recalling the year he was nineteen and the two women who shaped him.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Remarkably Bright Creatures
10
Shelby Van Pelt · Contemporary fiction
Marcellus is a giant Pacific octopus living in the Sowell Bay Aquarium.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Reminders of Him
11
Colleen Hoover · Contemporary fiction
Kenna Rowan is released from prison after serving five years for a drunk driving accident that killed her boyfriend Scotty.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Still Life
12
Louise Penny · Mystery
Still Life is the first novel featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, and the book that introduces the fictional village of Three Pines in Quebec's Eastern Townships.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary →
Books like Happy Place: quick answers
What are the best books like Happy Place?
The best books like Happy Place by Emily Henry are Normal People by Sally Rooney, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Happy Place, such as grief and loss, identity and self-reinvention, relationships and communication.
What should I read after Happy Place?
A natural next read after Happy Place is Normal People by Sally Rooney. A kindred romance read. Other strong choices are A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
What books are similar to Happy Place by Emily Henry?
Happy Place centers on grief and loss, identity and self-reinvention, relationships and communication. Books with a similar feel include Normal People by Sally Rooney, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
