Something Like Happy

Each story has a splash of intense colour at the heart… These are Scottish versions of the stories of Raymond Carver… Burnside writes tough, home-grown prose that inhabits the story form with perfect fit. – Brian Morton * Independent *A haunting and beautiful collection that deserves to be read slowly and savoured but which you won’t be able to put down. – Caroline Jowett * Daily Express *Masterly… A spiritual, haunting book. – Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *Burnside’s prose glitters. – Leyla Sanai * Independent on Sunday *Burnside brings a poet’s linguistic precision and emotional acuity… The writer’s deep, bloody engagement with the stuff of life can’t fail to leave the reader enlivened, and keen to feel more. – Hannah McGill * Scotland on Sunday *Each [story] is a perfectly pitched, perfectly weighted gem. – Paul Dunn * Times *Burnside’s sentences flow with a music and logic that is inevitable yet compelling and display the keenest ear for life. – Ben Felsenburg * Metro *There is much familiar Burnside landscape here – the harsh beauty of dune-grass and headland, the casual and deadly knifing in the pub, the domestic violence… Magical. – Margaret Drabble * Spectator *For those unacquainted with his sublimely terrifying oeuvre, this is the place to start… Violence simmers under the surface of every story, breaking out in the kind of stark detail that becomes unforgettable. – Stuart Kelly * Guardian *John Burnside’s career is among the more remarkable in contemporary literature… Even his most routine stories have beauty and intelligence: he is never less than something like brilliant. – Robert Hanks * Telegraph *

John Burnside was among the most acclaimed writers of his generation. His novels, short stories, poetry and memoirs won numerous awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial, Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and, in 2023, he received the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. In 2011 Black Cat Bone won both the Forward and the T.S. Eliot Prizes for poetry. He died in 2024.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.