With the title “Happy People Read and Drink Coffee” this was an easy choice for a weekend read, given I am very fond of both reading and coffee.
Diane is the owner of a literary café in Paris which she runs with her business partner and gay best friend, Felix. The café is called Happy People Read and Drink Coffee. Family tragedy strikes Dianne. Agnes Martin-Lugand brings that tragedy to our attention in the first few pages of her novel. This had me immediately engaged in Diane’s story. As with many sudden and unexpected tragedies, Diane finds herself in a downward spiral of depression from which even Felix cannot rescue her. Haunted by memories, Diane isolates herself from the world.
After a year of hiding away from the world and her family and friends, Diane makes the bold decision to leave Paris and travel to the Irish countryside. She rents a seaside cottage where she initially plans to continue her retreat and live in isolation. Her neighbours have other plans and she soon meets her new neighbour, solitary Edward, who appears to have his own demons and wants nothing to do with the newcomer.
Not surprisingly Diane and Edward find themselves becoming friends and along the way helping each other deal with their respective problems. Will Diane stay indefinitely in Ireland or will the pull back to Paris be too great? Will she ever be able to return to some form of post-grief normality? And what about her relationship with Edward? These are the questions posed along the way by Martin-Lugand.
I found this book to be an easy and enjoyable novel to wile away the hours. The ending was not what I had anticipated which made the reading experience more enchanting.
