The Happy Valley is an artfully written debut novel with somewhat of an identity crisis. At its core, it’s a coming of age novel where one character observes, befriends, and idolizes an older girl who harbours secrets. These secrets are shared baby their small town and, in a speculative near-future, by wider society. This society has also seen a fall of democracy/capitalism as we know it, although this part is almost a footnote relative to the main character’s own journey.

I spent most of my time reading feeling very intrigued. Our narrator is largely in the dark to what’s happening around him and I shared his confusion. Around the 70% mark this started to get irritating (think: “no one is telling me anything! Why won’t you tell me anything” “because you already know, wink wink”) and I found the final payoff anticlimactic. This however reminded me of both Wolf in White Van as well as I’m Thinking of Ending Things - both didn’t resonate with me for similar reasons, but I think fans of these will find a lot in Happy Valley.

On a positive note: the writing is exquisite and evoked the 80s-90s nostalgia so perfectly. Most chapters have 1-2 accompanying gorgeous illustrations that further set a nostalgic and eerie scene.

Recommended for readers who lean politically left, are a bit geeky, and have strong nostalgia for the late 20th century.

Thank you to Books Sirens, through whom I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving a voluntary and honest review.

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/N3d0uvty-uQ