or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
36 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
State of Happiness
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

State of Happiness (Hardcover)

by Stella Duffy (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.00 (23%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

7 new from £1.28 25 used from £0.01 4 collectible from £3.50
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover Order it used
Paperback £8.99 £5.89 46 used & new from £0.01
Hardcover (Large Print) 4 used & new from £1.58

Frequently Bought Together

State of Happiness + The Room of Lost Things + Singling Out the Couples
Total RRP: £28.97
Price For All Three: £23.17

Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others. Show details

  • This item: State of Happiness by Stella Duffy

    In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • The Room of Lost Things by Stella Duffy

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Singling Out the Couples by Stella Duffy

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Room of Lost Things

The Room of Lost Things

by Stella Duffy
4.1 out of 5 stars (13)  £5.99
Mouths of Babes

Mouths of Babes

by Stella Duffy
5.0 out of 5 stars (5)  £4.97
Singling Out the Couples

Singling Out the Couples

by Stella Duffy
4.2 out of 5 stars (6)  £7.19
Parallel Lies

Parallel Lies

by Stella Duffy
4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  £7.19
Calendar Girl (Five Star Title)

Calendar Girl (Five Star Title)

by Stella Duffy
4.3 out of 5 stars (3) 
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 252 pages
  • Publisher: Virago Press Ltd (15 Jan 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1844081133
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844081134
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 497,597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #12 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > D > Duffy, Stella

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review

'It is a pleasure and a relief to read someone who is not only first-class but is also thoroughly in tune with today's attitudes, feelings and language' THE TIMES 'Stella Duffy's writing gets better with each book' Val McDermid 'It's always a pleasure to find a new Stella Duffy novel' DIVA

Carrie O'Grady, Guardian

'A fine piece of writing...[Stella Duffy is] a powerful talent...[a] tough, poignant book'
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(4)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

State of Happiness
63% buy the item featured on this page:
State of Happiness 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
£9.99
The Room of Lost Things
12% buy
The Room of Lost Things 4.1 out of 5 stars (13)
£5.99
Calendar Girl (Five Star Title)
10% buy
Calendar Girl (Five Star Title) 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
Fresh Flesh
8% buy
Fresh Flesh 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£4.58
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars If you read just one book in your life make it this one, 22 Sep 2004
This review is from: State of Happiness (Paperback)
I'm sure any review will not do this book justice. Should have been a bestseller on its release, but I believe it will still get there by word of mouth. This book is captivating and really tugged at my heart strings, the saddest book I have read. The main character creates maps and her enthusiasm for this means she maps her everyday life, this is as fascinating as her struggle through her illness. Beutifully written a different angle on love and death, a satisfying read but keep a box of tissues by your side for the tears.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite moving, 19 April 2008
By SJSmith (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: State of Happiness (Paperback)
I read this on aeroplane and wish I hadn't - I cried! I had to sniffle away quietly at one or two places in order to not attract any attention. It is such a moving book and one I came across completely by chance. This is the first book I've read by Stella Duffy, although I do own another one and I am really looking forward to reading that.

In the beginning, the characters don't seem real, quite one dimensional. Suddenly, they become very different and I can't put my finger on what it was but I became hooked. That could well have been due to the fact that I was a captive auidence to a certain extent as I had nothing else to do for my two and a half hour flight.

It is difficult to discuss the plot without revealing what happens throughout the novel but the journey the characters go on is special. I couldn't recommend this book enough. It is touching but in such a way that it isn't wishy washy, it's quite a stark reality actually. Beautifully written, it packs a punch and holds nothing back.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning Novel, 4 Mar 2009
This review is from: State of Happiness (Paperback)
This book is amazing, simply stunning. I don't know where to start a review exactly because I don't want to give anything away so I will try and stick to the blurb with my additional babbling along the way. Jack (a Mancunian living in New York trying to make it in TV and the news) and Cindy (a mapmaker and published writer) meet at a mutual friend's party and by the end of the evening know that they have both met someone special. What follows is the story of their relationship over the first five years moving from New York to LA and then dealing with the shocking blow when Cindy becomes incredibly ill.

The first half of the novel tells of the way relationships start and flow as they become more and more serious. The hesitations and customisations people have and make as they go through the new emotions and make room in their life for someone new, someone to become the other part of their life. I don't know how she does it but Stella Duffy writes in a way that we see all these things in ourselves and smile at them. I kept thinking as I read on `oh yes, I have felt like that' when she describes making space in your life for someone else and their habits. It's written with a delightful realism that made me empathise with the characters which only made things harder in the second half of the novel.

Oddly when Cindy moves to be with Jack from the busy city and lights of New York to the sunny skies of LA the book becomes much darker. When Cindy falls sick (and I am not going to tell you what happens) you live the moments with her. I think my journey with her was so much harder because I liked her so much (I know books aren't about characters we like but like her I did) and because someone close to me became very ill and it brought it back. I don't think I have read such a spot on description of all the emotions you go through, the questions, the anger, the sadness and the laughter apart from in Helen Garner's The Spare Room. `State of Happiness' it is all encapsulated in less than two hundred and fifty pages.

The other thing that Duffy does that I thought was wonderful is relate all of these factors with mapping. Cindy herself is a cartographer as I mentioned, we read some of the excerpts of her book and possible future novel throughout the book, and how our lives are mapped and how the routes change as we go along is a big subject of the book. It's the prose that gets me though frank yet poetic and subtle yet poignant. A friend of mine read the book just before me (and gave away the ending - tut) and summed it up in a sentence `a wonderful book, I have never read anything like it' and she was spot on.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Such a good book
This is the first book by Stella Duffy that I have read and I'm so pleased that I did as I have found yet another new author to love! Read more
Published 9 months ago by Dot

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest and unflinching
I've always loved planning and studying maps, which is maybe why I understood the workings of cartogropher Cindy, who meets journalist Jack in New York, falls in love, and then... Read more
Published on 18 April 2007 by NB

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject










i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.