Skip to Main Content

The Temptation to Be Happy

The International Bestseller

Translated by Shaun Whiteside
Published by Oneworld Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

LIST PRICE ₹342.00

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

About The Book

‘Sad, funny, wise and unblinkingly honest, this is truly wonderful.’ Daily Mail

‘I like the smell of pines and the aroma of freshly washed laundry. I like the rattle of hail on windowpanes and the texture of volcanic rock. I like the light in the sky when the sun has gone down.

Cesare is an unlikely hero. As he says himself, ‘I am seventy-seven years old, and for seventy-two years and one hundred and eleven days I threw my life down the toilet...’ Is it too late for him to rediscover his passion for love and life?

Already an international bestseller, The Temptation to Be Happy is a coming-of-age story like no other.

'Immensely charming... Uplifting and very much on the side of life.' Mail on Sunday

About The Author

Product Details

  • Publisher: Oneworld Publications (October 5, 2017)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781786071880

Raves and Reviews

‘Sad, funny, wise and unblinkingly honest, this is truly wonderful.’

– Daily Mail

‘Uh-oh, here comes another one of those colourful curmudgeons who drop pearls of senior wisdom on their way to a new lease on life. Cesare certainly fits the stereotype, but he’s funny, interesting and grumpy enough to stay on the winning side of the formula.’

– New York Times Book Review

‘Immensely charming... Uplifting and very much on the side of life.’

– Mail on Sunday

‘Marone’s characters, irreverent and absurd, embark on adventures they had ceased to allow themselves to imagine in this darkly comedic take on ageing.’

– World Literature Today

‘An impressive literary feat…a charming tale of opportunities taken and missed.’

– Reading Magazine

‘Lorenzo Marone is the new voice that literature needs.’

– Corriere della Sera

‘Unforgettable...comical and cynical while remaining tender and dramatic.’

– Corriere della Sera

The Temptation to be Happy is that very rare thing - a book that can make you both laugh and cry... Marone's undoubted skill [is] demonstrated in some beautiful lyrical passages.'

– TripFiction

‘Poignant...[with] moments of touching eccentricity.’

– bookoxygen

‘A wonderful novel about ageing – ironic and light-footed.’

– Italien Magazin

‘Packed with dark humour, the writer's embodiment of a near-octogenarian is an impressive feat.’

– Northern Echo

‘A charming tale.’

– Daily Telegraph

‘A toast to real happiness!’

– La Stampa

‘A book that touches the heart...wonderfully honest, ingenious, quick and tragic.’

– Siegener Zeitung

‘This novel owes its success largely to Lorenzo Marone’s wonderful character Cesare Annunziata, and to the funny and paradoxical fact that this is an excellent coming-of-age novel whose protagonist is over seventy years old.’

– Il Mattino

‘Comic, ironic, sarcastic descriptions that will make you smile but will also make you take a deep look at life in old age.’

– Wochenspiegel

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images