Happiness for Beginners: A Novel

Katherine Center

Dec 2023 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Ellie Kemper

About this audiobook

"Center’s many fans will be delighted, and those who enjoyed the movie will love hearing Kemper narrate the audio. An emotionally narrated novel, full of heart and hope."—Library Journal

As seen on Netflix—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bodyguard and Hello Stranger

The audiobook is read by Ellie Kemper, who starred in the screen adaptation of Happiness for Beginners on Netflix. Kemper, also known for her standout roles in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bridesmaids, and The Office, gives a warm and joyful performance of this novel from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire.

Helen Carpenter can’t quite seem to bounce back. Newly divorced at thirty-two, her life has fallen apart beyond her ability to put it together again. So when her annoying younger brother, Duncan, convinces her to sign up for a hardcore wilderness survival course in the backwoods of Wyoming—she hopes it’ll be exactly what she needs.

Instead, it’s a disaster. It’s nothing like she wants, or expects, or anticipates. She doesn’t anticipate the surprise summer blizzard, for example—or the blisters, or the rutting elk, or the mean pack of sorority girls. And she especially doesn’t anticipate that her annoying brother’s even-more-annoying best friend, Jake, will show up for the exact same course—and distract her, derail her, and . . . kiss her.

But it turns out sometimes disaster can teach you exactly the things you need to learn. Like how to keep going, even when you think you can’t. How being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes getting really, really lost is your only hope of getting found.

Happiness for Beginners is Katherine Center at her most heart-warming, captivating best—a nourishing, page-turning, up-all-night read about how to get back up. It’s a story that looks at how our struggles lead us to our strengths. How love is always worth it. And how the more good things we look for, the more we find.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

About the author

KATHERINE CENTER is the New York Times bestselling author of over a half dozen novels, including What You Wish For, Things You Save in a Fire, and How to Walk Away. Katherine has been compared to Nora Ephron and Jane Austen. The Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Katherine recently gave a TEDx talk on how stories teach empathy. Her work has appeared in USA Today, InStyle, Redbook, People, The Atlantic, Real Simple, and more. She lives in Houston with her husband and two kids.