Stealing Happy

There is nobody who can capture the authentic voice of young people growing up in a working-class community quite like Brian Conaghan and this new novel is absolutely pitch perfect. It is obviously firmly grounded in his own lived experience growing up in Coatbridge, but is even more of an authentic read this time, since our hero, Sonny Gilmour, has Tourette’s, as does Brian.  Sonny also dreams of being a stand-up comedian and of the gorgeous Carolina Swift, has a best mate Jonah and tries to avoid the bully Archie Burns. He gets on really well with Special K (Mr Kalinski the school counsellor) and it’s great to see that he is being supported in school with his Tourette’s and OCD. The rest of his life is causing him lots of anxiety. His family is in a dire financial situation, exacerbated by his dad suffering with Long Covid and unable to work, and his mum struggling to cope. She makes a terrible decision when faced with rent arrears, borrowing money from a loan shark and their debts are escalating out of control.  The dreaded Chick Lennon has the whole community living in fear and now they are part of it. Sonny’s dad has told him he must be ‘the man of the house’ so it’s up to him, his  loyal true crime obsessed friend Jonah and the ‘gorgeous brainbox’ and Sonny’s fellow Reading Ambassador, Carolina Swift, to come up with a plan. This plan involves robbing Chick Lennon and paying him back with his own money. Subterfuge of any sort is very difficult when Tourette’s makes you blurt out ‘ROB CHICK LENNON’ any time you are stressed. Sonny’s jokes, the banter between friends and the inevitable chaos of the heist, creates laughs a plenty, but the underlying seriousness of the situation is never downplayed. It is an unflinching look at poverty, food banks, Long Covid, Social Security injustices and at how easily families can get sucked in by predatory loan sharks. This is a very real contemporary issue brought vividly to life and Sonny is yet another Conaghan character who will steal your heart and live long in your memory.