Affirm Press

Humans just want to be happy, yes? After all, that’s what life’s all about. Well ... no. It turns out that, for a huge chunk of history, feeling good was the furthest thing from our minds. Expecting life to be fun and fulfilling (or, if all else fails, fine) is actually a very recent phenomenon. And there’s every reason to think that it’s making us sad. A playful tour of Western ‘progress’, from ancient philosophers to modern day pop stars via pills, priests, Proust and the plague, The Importance of Being Miserable explores how, why and when we all started to pursue happiness. And why feeling bad may not actually be all that bad.

Em has lived a quiet life with her complicated mother and is now looking for love and a potential escape from her small hometown. When a masked man kidnaps her in the dark of night, though, she is drawn into a terrifying world. Jodie has been trying to forget a troubling time in her life, pouring her trauma into her work and out of her mind. Until one night her daughter is kidnapped and Jodie is dragged back into the violence. As Em and Jodie race into the darkness, the agony of the past rushes up to meet them. It will take all their devotion and courage to escape this night alive. Bold, vivid and heart-racingly intense, The Long Night is the darkest and most exhilarating novel yet from bestselling author Christian White.