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Every Happiness
Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self.
Deepa and Ruchi are 12 years old when they meet at their Catholic school in India, but their connection is swift and lasting. As the two girls grow up and face their families' expectations and the limits of their ambitions, their friendship is marked by intimacy, jealousy, and suppressed desire.
When, in their twenties, Deepa marries a doctor and moves from India to the suburbs of Connecticut, Ruchi quickly finds an engineer bound for the same state and follows her friend across the world. But life in the United States is different than either woman expects. Deepa's daughter seeks affection Deepa refuses to give, and Ruchi's son resists her smothering care. At the same time, Deepa and Ruchi find their closeness tested by a growing class disparity, competing family needs, and the differences in their desires. Ultimately, when Ruchi discovers a dangerous secret about Deepa's husband's wealth, both women are forced to weigh the tangled bonds of their friendship with their lives, and their families', in the burgeoning Indian American community.
“Moving and unforgettable” (Kimberly King Parsons), Every Happiness explores the slippery edges of a lifelong relationship, and the invisible threads that bind us, sometimes painfully, to those we love most.
Deepa and Ruchi are 12 years old when they meet at their Catholic school in India, but their connection is swift and lasting. As the two girls grow up and face their families' expectations and the limits of their ambitions, their friendship is marked by intimacy, jealousy, and suppressed desire.
When, in their twenties, Deepa marries a doctor and moves from India to the suburbs of Connecticut, Ruchi quickly finds an engineer bound for the same state and follows her friend across the world. But life in the United States is different than either woman expects. Deepa's daughter seeks affection Deepa refuses to give, and Ruchi's son resists her smothering care. At the same time, Deepa and Ruchi find their closeness tested by a growing class disparity, competing family needs, and the differences in their desires. Ultimately, when Ruchi discovers a dangerous secret about Deepa's husband's wealth, both women are forced to weigh the tangled bonds of their friendship with their lives, and their families', in the burgeoning Indian American community.
“Moving and unforgettable” (Kimberly King Parsons), Every Happiness explores the slippery edges of a lifelong relationship, and the invisible threads that bind us, sometimes painfully, to those we love most.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 3, 2026
18 people are currently reading
5755 people want to read
About the author
Reena Shah
6 books15 followersReena Shah is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her work has been featured in the Masters Review, Electric Literature, Joyland, BBC, the American Prospect, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among other publications. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, Millay Arts, Tin House, Sustainable Arts Foundation, Cuttyhunk Island Residency, and the Fulbright Foundation. She received an MFA in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature. For many years she was a kathak dancer in New York and India. She now lives on Roosevelt Island, NY with her family and teaches in a public school.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 8, 2025
I found this book kind of unbearable to get through. Every single character was miserable and honestly not very likeable. I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone. The writing was solid, I just did not care about any character in this book :/
Review of advance copy
Every Happiness seems to be a misnomer as the characters are just the opposite: sad, depressed, and unhappy.
Two schoolmates from India reunite in Connecticut. One seemingly has all of the trappings of wealth, yet is a cold character who on occasion, pities her peer. The other, well, she is seeking happiness.
Complimentary copy via LibrosFm.
Two schoolmates from India reunite in Connecticut. One seemingly has all of the trappings of wealth, yet is a cold character who on occasion, pities her peer. The other, well, she is seeking happiness.
Complimentary copy via LibrosFm.
December 18, 2025
3.75 stars
December 9, 2025
I’m feeling generous with a two. I appreciate that Indian culture led these characters to do certain things, but I felt like it was a competition on who could be the most shallow and deplorable of the characters and they were in a dead heat throughout the book.
December 2, 2025
i saw someone else review this by saying that it was “very bleak but very realistic” and I think that’s the perfect way to sum up this book. every character had real flaws and the life they lived as first generation immigrant families navigating identity, culture and success was very honest. however, everything was depicted pretty negatively overall, making it less enjoyable to read to be completely honest
November 10, 2025
While the writing in this novel is solid, I wish the characters would have been more likable, especially Deepa. I cared about Ruchi and her fate, but it was hard to care about the other characters when they were so selfish and judgemental. I understand that Deepa was bitter because she couldn't live as she wanted, but it was hard to see how she took her resentment out on others, especially on Ruchi, whom she loved and desired, but kept pushing away out of shame. I found this book sadly realistic, and just too depressing.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing, Reena Shah (author), Edelweiss, and Libro.fm for providing an advance digital review copy and advance listening copy of Every Happiness (narrated by Deepa Samuel). Their generosity did not influence my review in any way.
Every Happiness is a story focusing on a lifelong relationship between Deepa and Ruchi. They met at Catholic school in India at 12 years old and immediately connected. They grew up and got married, one to a doctor and one to an engineer, and made their separate ways across the world to the US. They each dealt with the issues of being immigrants, raising first-generation Indian American children, class disparities, jealousy, loveless semi-arranged marriages, power struggles, and their own confusing, complex feelings toward each other over the years.
I enjoyed the book, though neither Deepa nor Ruchi are good likable people. There was nothing to root for here, except hoping their kids can get therapy and turn out okay. There is no big drama; it’s a story of people growing up and changing. Sometimes those changes are accepted and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes people answer your calls and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you know the reason why and sometimes you don’t.
I think book clubs might have a lot to talk about here. Class disparities, destructive parenting styles, defrauding the government for good reasons vs. bad reasons, etc. For people who like action books, this one won’t be for you. But there are some interesting character studies that can be done. For the audiobook, Deepa Samuel does a great job and I really enjoyed her narration. 3.75 stars
Every Happiness is a story focusing on a lifelong relationship between Deepa and Ruchi. They met at Catholic school in India at 12 years old and immediately connected. They grew up and got married, one to a doctor and one to an engineer, and made their separate ways across the world to the US. They each dealt with the issues of being immigrants, raising first-generation Indian American children, class disparities, jealousy, loveless semi-arranged marriages, power struggles, and their own confusing, complex feelings toward each other over the years.
I enjoyed the book, though neither Deepa nor Ruchi are good likable people. There was nothing to root for here, except hoping their kids can get therapy and turn out okay. There is no big drama; it’s a story of people growing up and changing. Sometimes those changes are accepted and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes people answer your calls and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you know the reason why and sometimes you don’t.
I think book clubs might have a lot to talk about here. Class disparities, destructive parenting styles, defrauding the government for good reasons vs. bad reasons, etc. For people who like action books, this one won’t be for you. But there are some interesting character studies that can be done. For the audiobook, Deepa Samuel does a great job and I really enjoyed her narration. 3.75 stars
Review of advance copy
I’ve long been a lurker on Goodreads, but finally bit the bullet and created an account because I read an advance copy of Every Happiness and absolutely loved it — and was honestly dismayed to see some of the overly reductive critiques when I looked it up to see what kind of reception it was getting ahead of release.
What struck me most is how real these characters feel. They are not unlikeable — they are people: flawed, contradictory, yearning, and all the more compelling for it. Deepa and Ruchi’s friendship is messy, deep, tender, and sometimes prickly, because it mirrors the knots we all carry in our closest relationships. Shah doesn’t soften their humanity or give easy answers; instead she lets their choices, regrets, and desires unfold with unflinching precision.
This is a novel that makes you sit with discomfort and tenderness at the same time: the jealousy that can live inside love, the class divides that shape even intimate bonds, and the quiet ways we hurt the people we care about most. Every Happiness gives its characters room to breathe, to err, and to be fiercely themselves — and that’s what makes their story linger long after the last page.
The prose is clear and thoughtful, the emotional landscape rich, and the cultural texture — spanning decades and continents — woven with nuance. I found myself thinking about these women long after finishing, seeing in them parts of myself and of the people I’ve known. If you’re open to a story that portrays friendship and family with complexity and depth, this book will stay with you. Highly recommended.
What struck me most is how real these characters feel. They are not unlikeable — they are people: flawed, contradictory, yearning, and all the more compelling for it. Deepa and Ruchi’s friendship is messy, deep, tender, and sometimes prickly, because it mirrors the knots we all carry in our closest relationships. Shah doesn’t soften their humanity or give easy answers; instead she lets their choices, regrets, and desires unfold with unflinching precision.
This is a novel that makes you sit with discomfort and tenderness at the same time: the jealousy that can live inside love, the class divides that shape even intimate bonds, and the quiet ways we hurt the people we care about most. Every Happiness gives its characters room to breathe, to err, and to be fiercely themselves — and that’s what makes their story linger long after the last page.
The prose is clear and thoughtful, the emotional landscape rich, and the cultural texture — spanning decades and continents — woven with nuance. I found myself thinking about these women long after finishing, seeing in them parts of myself and of the people I’ve known. If you’re open to a story that portrays friendship and family with complexity and depth, this book will stay with you. Highly recommended.
January 17, 2026
3.75 stars*
A complicated, layered story of friendship, love, and sacrifice, Every Happiness follows two women, Deepa and Ruchi, across decades, from when they first meet at age twelve in a Catholic school in India to their adult lives in the U.S.
Complicated because while these two grow up side by side—dreaming together, planning together, strategizing their escape from life in India and toward a future in America—there’s always something simmering underneath. An unspoken competition. A quiet jealousy. A constant need to prove who’s doing better, who made the “right” choices, especially from Deepa’s perspective.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this is also a novel deeply concerned with choice: the choices we believe we have versus the ones we don’t, the selfishness that can sometimes hide beneath the guise of sacrifice and love, and the familiar disconnect between immigrant parents and the children who grow up in the countries they move to. There’s also a heavy focus on the pressure we place on ourselves: how we measure success, how we show up in our communities, and how much of our identity becomes wrapped up in comparison.
This is a good story with a lot of layers. The characters are deeply flawed and often unlikeable but intentionally so. Their messiness, contradictions, and poor decisions are what make the story feel real, complicated, and ultimately human.
Thank you to Libro fm for the advanced listening copy!
A complicated, layered story of friendship, love, and sacrifice, Every Happiness follows two women, Deepa and Ruchi, across decades, from when they first meet at age twelve in a Catholic school in India to their adult lives in the U.S.
Complicated because while these two grow up side by side—dreaming together, planning together, strategizing their escape from life in India and toward a future in America—there’s always something simmering underneath. An unspoken competition. A quiet jealousy. A constant need to prove who’s doing better, who made the “right” choices, especially from Deepa’s perspective.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this is also a novel deeply concerned with choice: the choices we believe we have versus the ones we don’t, the selfishness that can sometimes hide beneath the guise of sacrifice and love, and the familiar disconnect between immigrant parents and the children who grow up in the countries they move to. There’s also a heavy focus on the pressure we place on ourselves: how we measure success, how we show up in our communities, and how much of our identity becomes wrapped up in comparison.
This is a good story with a lot of layers. The characters are deeply flawed and often unlikeable but intentionally so. Their messiness, contradictions, and poor decisions are what make the story feel real, complicated, and ultimately human.
Thank you to Libro fm for the advanced listening copy!
February 7, 2026
I heard about this novel back in December when Reena Shah's publicist wrote to me about having her on my show.
At first I was reluctant: given the title and the gorgeous cover, I thought the novel might be a bit light and fluffy for my tastes, but no. I soon came to realize the title, EVERY HAPPINESS, is ironic: the characters, Deepa and Ruchi, would love every happiness to come to them, just like every other human being on the planet, but happiness for these characters doesn't quite click in. They have their problems.
The book is epic. It covers something like sixty years of their lives, from meeting as Catholic schoolgirls in India to their life in the U.S.
It's been weeks since I read EVERY HAPPINESS and I'm still thinking about it. (Too often I forget about books and what happened days after I read them.)
Yesterday I interviewed the author for Writers on Writing, and will air the show in the next couple of weeks. I loved talking to Reena Shah about the book and about craft. I hope you'll listen. You can find Writers on Writing wherever you consume your podcasts.
At first I was reluctant: given the title and the gorgeous cover, I thought the novel might be a bit light and fluffy for my tastes, but no. I soon came to realize the title, EVERY HAPPINESS, is ironic: the characters, Deepa and Ruchi, would love every happiness to come to them, just like every other human being on the planet, but happiness for these characters doesn't quite click in. They have their problems.
The book is epic. It covers something like sixty years of their lives, from meeting as Catholic schoolgirls in India to their life in the U.S.
It's been weeks since I read EVERY HAPPINESS and I'm still thinking about it. (Too often I forget about books and what happened days after I read them.)
Yesterday I interviewed the author for Writers on Writing, and will air the show in the next couple of weeks. I loved talking to Reena Shah about the book and about craft. I hope you'll listen. You can find Writers on Writing wherever you consume your podcasts.
February 14, 2026
I came upon an ad on instagram for this book and decided to read it on a whim. This was the best decision I could have made. This author is talented and writes characters that feel real and have realistic flaws - the book makes you think critically about the cost of immigration and hiding parts of yourself. Maybe it’s because I am Indian and grew up in Connecticut but I really felt like the representation in this book of queer Desi love was super realistic. I never usually cry at books but I did at the end of this one. I never update goodreads anymore but I had to after some reviews said this book was too sad or the characters were too annoying. Do you think repressing your sexuality for 50+ years leads to a personality that is well-adjusted? Readers deserve books that explore real consequences of social stigma - this book delivers. I wish all Indian-American writers treated stories of immigration and adaptation to American culture with the clear care and attention this author did.
February 14, 2026
I just finished this book and was so stunned that not even a whispered "wow" came out. I had to sit in silence to gather myself beyond the amazement I felt. What a book! It's as if I was brought into a riveting yet disturbing parallel world that has always been there, and I didn't even know. We know so little about even our best friends and how they can betray us even though it so damages their own lives. We know so little about what family loyalty costs us, and this book makes me think that most of us are like one daughter's recognition that she is a "coward who lied out of love." I didn't like either of the main characters, and yet I kept trying to understand their attraction. All the characters, especially with the language of their eyes, were compelling, often exasperating--even down to the office women in billing! For me, the book was eye-opening about Indian American culture and community, and that was part of its magic. Great first novel!
November 25, 2025
An absorbing narrative about an unlikely friendship between Deepa and Ruchi, 12 year old girls at a Catholic school in India that spans decades, families, continents, social standing, spouses, scandals, and children. At its core, within the deftly delineated settings, is the question of how well we can ever know another person, even one with which we have experienced rites of passage, public and private. Does someone that shares our late childhood also share a part of ourselves? Shah writes with ease and deep understanding about the dialog and desires of her characters, the small hurts, triumphs, resentments and erratic love they have for each other.
Recommended
Recommended
Review of advance copy
Every Happiness is the kind of novel that sits with you, and you find yourself reflecting on the characters long after the novel is finished. I commend the author for sharing Ruchi in such a raw and authentic way, where her anguish feels unfiltered and deeply felt. This is not a light novel, but one that delves deeper into the complexities and sometimes contradictions of relationships. There is no complete closure, leaving you wanting more. Beautifully shared, Shah tells a complicated story of friendship and longing that is painfully honest.
February 3, 2026
You will get swept away by Deepa and Ruchi and all of their flaws that make them human. Reena Shah is a beautiful writer and storyteller who embraces the complicated nature of love, family, and friendship and all of the joys and heartaches that go along with it. Every Happiness left me hanging on every word and wanting to hug each of the characters. This is one of my favorite books I've read recently!
February 16, 2026
I loved this book. It is the kind of book that keeps you engaged with the characters’ journeys on every page The prose is so detailed and precise that it took me back to memories of my childhood, friendships, family obligations and more. To only see the sadness in each woman is to miss the beauty and frightfulness of their deep love. I’m reading it for a second time. One reading falls short of all to glean about the power of crossing cultures and the greater power of touch—felt and unfelt
Review of advance copy
Every Happiness is thoughtful, grounded, and genuinely moving. Reena Shah explores relationships, grief, and personal growth in a way that feels honest instead of overdone. The characters feel real, with quiet moments that land naturally. It’s not flashy, but it has depth, and it made me reflect on how happiness can exist alongside pain. A solid, meaningful read that feels true to life.
November 24, 2025
I found this book very bleak and also I think realistic.
Review of advance copy received from Author
"Every Happiness" is about female friendship, emotional repression, geography and betrayal and devotion and time. Elena Ferrante meets desi queer desire. Loved it!
Review of advance copy
Reena Shah is a beautiful writer. I have read some of her short stories in the past and was so excited to be able to get absorbed in a full novel!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Couldn't put it down, simply a brilliant first novel!
February 10, 2026
Deepa and Ruchi have been friends for practically as long as they can remember. Growing up in India, they bonded as adolescents and were never able to escape each other.
The women both married Indian men and ended up in Connecticut, perpetually in search of the American dream. Fraught with envy, desire, hope and heartbreak, this story tells the tale of decades of friendship. While Deepa and Ruchi float in and out of each others’ lives, they each remain a powerful, influential presence for the other.
I thought the audio of this book was really well done, and I believe the story was more impactful hearing so many of the names and Indian words spoken as they were intended. I felt like this one was real and raw and so very relatable as a woman.
Is there a friend who’s been in your life for as long as you can remember?
The women both married Indian men and ended up in Connecticut, perpetually in search of the American dream. Fraught with envy, desire, hope and heartbreak, this story tells the tale of decades of friendship. While Deepa and Ruchi float in and out of each others’ lives, they each remain a powerful, influential presence for the other.
I thought the audio of this book was really well done, and I believe the story was more impactful hearing so many of the names and Indian words spoken as they were intended. I felt like this one was real and raw and so very relatable as a woman.
Is there a friend who’s been in your life for as long as you can remember?
February 3, 2026
I need to think through my rating on this one.
The writing was solid, but none of the characters were likeable, but it was also honest and unflinching and not romanticized at all, and there was cultural and thematic richness and the complexities of the immigrant experience, but it was also a lot and SO bleak and for me personally, it was hard to get through.
I think 2.5 rounded to 3 but again. I need to sleep on this one.
The writing was solid, but none of the characters were likeable, but it was also honest and unflinching and not romanticized at all, and there was cultural and thematic richness and the complexities of the immigrant experience, but it was also a lot and SO bleak and for me personally, it was hard to get through.
I think 2.5 rounded to 3 but again. I need to sleep on this one.
Review of advance copy
I’ve been a fan of Shah for a while, and have read most of her short stories. So I was pretty excited to see her first novel come out—and it absolutely lives up to that anticipation. What really stands out is her ability to closely observe the micro-dynamics between people bound in close relations. She's especially good at capturing the small, often invisible conditions that end up shaping relationships over time, and how those relationships evolve in ways that feel both inevitable and surprising. The characters change through time, but through the impact of immigration and of raising children between cultures, where identity is always unsettled and in motion. The prose is precise and beautiful without calling attention to itself—I found myself highlighting passages constantly.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews