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Alice Hartley's Happiness
Social mores come under bestselling author Philippa Gregory's acute scrutiny in this reissue of a long-unavailable novel of betrayal, revenge and liberation! Alice Hartley can no longer arouse the interest of her pompous husband, the adulterous professor. Despite her efforts, she still leaves him cold. Just as she is compelled to face this chilling truth, she meets Michael, a young student with an excessive libido. In Michael, Alice discovers an endless supply of all she has sought: revenge, sex and a large house suitable for conversion. Soon the house is thigh-deep with women joyfully casting off the shacles of their oppression. Sadly, some narrow-minded neigbours and numerous forces of the law seem completely impervious to all those healing vibrations!
257 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 1992
55 people are currently reading
2004 people want to read
About the author
Philippa Gregory
134 books36.7k followersDR PHILIPPA GREGORY studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers’ Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia. and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
She welcomes visitors to her site www.PhilippaGregory.com.
Philippa's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/PhilippaGregoryOfficial
She welcomes visitors to her site www.PhilippaGregory.com.
Philippa's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/PhilippaGregoryOfficial
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
June 16, 2014
To people who insist that this book only gets bad reviews because readers compare it to her more famous works, I have to confess: I have never read a Philippa Gregory book. And this may be the worst possible choice to start with.
I can forgive the faux liberation, the haphazard romping disguised as sexual freedom, the preachiness. (Yes, this book is as preachy as a Chick Tract, only in the opposite direction.) What I can't forgive is the terrible, terrible writing. Characters that are not so much caricatures as they are commedia dell'arte--all led in the farce by the biggest Mary Sue I've encountered for a while. Awfully contrived situations from first page to last. Ridiculous dialogue out of the very worst of direct-to-cable movies. And the exclamation points, dear God, the endless exclamation points. Oh look, I sound like the book now.
In short, nothing about this book was the least bit satisfying, exciting, or adventurous. For a book about erotic liberation and the horror of social mores, this book was conventional, boring, and full of White Lady Problems. And the ending is not only given away on the back of the book, but was outright dumb.
Dear Goodreaders, please recommend a good Gregory book. I can't let this be the only experience I have of her writing and I have faith she can do better.
I can forgive the faux liberation, the haphazard romping disguised as sexual freedom, the preachiness. (Yes, this book is as preachy as a Chick Tract, only in the opposite direction.) What I can't forgive is the terrible, terrible writing. Characters that are not so much caricatures as they are commedia dell'arte--all led in the farce by the biggest Mary Sue I've encountered for a while. Awfully contrived situations from first page to last. Ridiculous dialogue out of the very worst of direct-to-cable movies. And the exclamation points, dear God, the endless exclamation points. Oh look, I sound like the book now.
In short, nothing about this book was the least bit satisfying, exciting, or adventurous. For a book about erotic liberation and the horror of social mores, this book was conventional, boring, and full of White Lady Problems. And the ending is not only given away on the back of the book, but was outright dumb.
Dear Goodreaders, please recommend a good Gregory book. I can't let this be the only experience I have of her writing and I have faith she can do better.
September 21, 2020
The facts:
-weird sex cult
-naked moonlight dancing
-the mention of "African babies"
-lots of shrooms🤙🏼
-dolphin assisted birth
-riding around naked on a dolphin
-did Alice give the babies alcohol?
-loading two fully grown dolphins in the backseat of a goddam car
-prostitution
-the dumbest fucking 20-year-old I have ever seen
-calling a skinny girl a "half-starved asexual" and then having a doctor think she's a boy.
This was weird, man. Also, who decided on the cover of this book? Most deceiving shit I have EVER seen.
I'll admit that I gave this 2 stars because of how many times I burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Hectic.
-weird sex cult
-naked moonlight dancing
-the mention of "African babies"
-lots of shrooms🤙🏼
-dolphin assisted birth
-riding around naked on a dolphin
-did Alice give the babies alcohol?
-loading two fully grown dolphins in the backseat of a goddam car
-prostitution
-the dumbest fucking 20-year-old I have ever seen
-calling a skinny girl a "half-starved asexual" and then having a doctor think she's a boy.
This was weird, man. Also, who decided on the cover of this book? Most deceiving shit I have EVER seen.
I'll admit that I gave this 2 stars because of how many times I burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Hectic.
January 20, 2015
I've read other Philippa Gregory books and they were, at least, entertaining. This wasn't. It was awful. I didn't like the characters, not even a little bit. They all seemed like whining children and I didn't care what happen to them. When the main character kills a cat for no reason at all I literally threw the book across the room. Awful book.
January 30, 2010
This book really made me laugh, the black humour I found immensely entertaining. Having assumed it was another historical novel I was surprised to find it wasn't at all what I was expecting, why on earth did the publisher choose such a misleading cover? Anyway I'm glad I didn't read the bad reviews before I picked it up because I would have missed a thoroughly enjoyable book, full of hilarious one-liners and tongue in cheek social comment. Admittedly as you get towards the end of the book the storyline does get a bit farcical but I don't think it was ever meant to be taken seriously. The book also has a quite satisfying ending...
June 28, 2014
If you're confused by how different this is to the books Gregory is no doubt earning a packet from, it's a satire, folks. In the grand English tradition of mocking the shit out of everything but particularly academia.
February 1, 2010
I almost stopped reading this after the first few chapters, it gradually got better but was well below the usual standards of this author. Not one I'll read again.
January 16, 2011
I struggled through this, though thankfully it was a quick read. Gregory does manage to maintain her reader friendly prose, but... As the other reviewer mentioned, no character is likable, but that isn't really the problem. In much of Gregory's other works even characters making horrible choices are compelling and understood evoking reader sympathy. Their values and interests and backgrounds are explored and through this, their characters have depth. This depth is missing in this novel. Several comments in the narrative suggest that the author has no sympathy for the narcissistic-earth-mother-wack-job that is Alice Hartley.
The rest of cast are improbable characters, [I think these hint at minor plot developments, but others may see it as a spoiler, so if you're worried, skip to the next paragraph] who go on absurdly unlikely adventures. These including a woman who, having taken to her bed for roughy 50 years meets the lead character and begins hopping around happily and embarking on absurd ventures. Where were the bed sores? The atrophied muscles? The reflection on a wasted life? And then there's the improbable wedging of two dolphins (typically 7 to 13 feet long) into the backseat of a car (typically 5 feet wide) suggesting the book needed an editor capable of fact checking. Actually I kept wondering if Gregory and her publisher were in a fight over this silly book given just how weak it was compared to her usual standards.
The vaguely interesting elements of the story lay in the interactions between characters. Alice Hartley is a nutter, but away from her husband she manages to put together and lead a stupid, silly sex cult thing. She sees and exploits potential out of the other dysfunctional nutters who gather around her, but in the presence of her husband, she feels self-conscious and stupid. While he's a one dimensional prat, she's been content to let him demoralize her for years and suddenly leaves in a melodramatic tantrum. How this tanty qualifies her to heal other women who see their disappointing husbands as the reason their lives suck while taking no responsibility for themselves is unclear. Of course quick fixes (practice telling your husband to change your squalling brat's diapers) are about as unrealistic as that sudden reinvigoration of the bedridden character mentioned earlier, so...
The book's lack of depth make it seem a parable, but I'm not certain of the message it's trying to send. Don't be pathetic? Don't berate your wife? If you're going to deliver babies, make sure you've done more than just seen them on tv? Avoid starting idiot sex-mother-earth-goddess-rubbish if you're over thirteen? Despite all these failings, I still strangely enjoyed reading it - but it did have a train wreck quality.
The rest of cast are improbable characters, [I think these hint at minor plot developments, but others may see it as a spoiler, so if you're worried, skip to the next paragraph] who go on absurdly unlikely adventures. These including a woman who, having taken to her bed for roughy 50 years meets the lead character and begins hopping around happily and embarking on absurd ventures. Where were the bed sores? The atrophied muscles? The reflection on a wasted life? And then there's the improbable wedging of two dolphins (typically 7 to 13 feet long) into the backseat of a car (typically 5 feet wide) suggesting the book needed an editor capable of fact checking. Actually I kept wondering if Gregory and her publisher were in a fight over this silly book given just how weak it was compared to her usual standards.
The vaguely interesting elements of the story lay in the interactions between characters. Alice Hartley is a nutter, but away from her husband she manages to put together and lead a stupid, silly sex cult thing. She sees and exploits potential out of the other dysfunctional nutters who gather around her, but in the presence of her husband, she feels self-conscious and stupid. While he's a one dimensional prat, she's been content to let him demoralize her for years and suddenly leaves in a melodramatic tantrum. How this tanty qualifies her to heal other women who see their disappointing husbands as the reason their lives suck while taking no responsibility for themselves is unclear. Of course quick fixes (practice telling your husband to change your squalling brat's diapers) are about as unrealistic as that sudden reinvigoration of the bedridden character mentioned earlier, so...
The book's lack of depth make it seem a parable, but I'm not certain of the message it's trying to send. Don't be pathetic? Don't berate your wife? If you're going to deliver babies, make sure you've done more than just seen them on tv? Avoid starting idiot sex-mother-earth-goddess-rubbish if you're over thirteen? Despite all these failings, I still strangely enjoyed reading it - but it did have a train wreck quality.
August 23, 2012
What a romp this book is!
If you are reading it hoping for historical fiction, you will be sadly disappointed, because this feels more like the author's pressure valve - her plaything. It may make you want to go out and live a better, freer life. At times, it reminded me a bit of Tom Sharpe, with the Alice's magnificent disregard for authority.
It is very interesting the way that Gregory talks directly to the reader at a few points too, so that we are well aware that this is her fictional plaything, and that she is well aware of the conventions which ought to govern a story line like this one.
Really good fun, and highly recommended.
If you are reading it hoping for historical fiction, you will be sadly disappointed, because this feels more like the author's pressure valve - her plaything. It may make you want to go out and live a better, freer life. At times, it reminded me a bit of Tom Sharpe, with the Alice's magnificent disregard for authority.
It is very interesting the way that Gregory talks directly to the reader at a few points too, so that we are well aware that this is her fictional plaything, and that she is well aware of the conventions which ought to govern a story line like this one.
Really good fun, and highly recommended.
July 23, 2017
This is a farce masquerading as a... no idea what exactly. It's ridiculous. The final chapter would have saved it from a one star rating but she killed the cat. Who does that?
Fuck Alice and her happiness.
Fuck Alice and her happiness.
Read
February 7, 2024Trigger: Animal abuse at 19%. This is the fourth book I've read by this author and finished none of them.
October 2, 2009
I loved this book! Such a departure from the historical novels Ms. Gregory is famous for.
This story is quite contemporary and could easily be set anytime in the last 20 years or so, and is also still valid today.
Alice is unhappy with her life and especially with her marriage. Her husband is having an affair wth one of his students. So a chance encounter with a young man who comes to the house to borrow a desk to use in a play, gives Alice a swift idea on how to get her revenge on her husband and get part of her life back.
If you can find a copy of this book do get hold of it, beg, borrow or steal it from your friends or the local library. It's hilarious and a breath of fresh air!
This story is quite contemporary and could easily be set anytime in the last 20 years or so, and is also still valid today.
Alice is unhappy with her life and especially with her marriage. Her husband is having an affair wth one of his students. So a chance encounter with a young man who comes to the house to borrow a desk to use in a play, gives Alice a swift idea on how to get her revenge on her husband and get part of her life back.
If you can find a copy of this book do get hold of it, beg, borrow or steal it from your friends or the local library. It's hilarious and a breath of fresh air!
August 23, 2019
I can sum up this book with one word 'weird'. I got this book at a book exchange and there was a sticky note inside by the owner 'I'm not sure if this is really romance' and I agree. It started off as a romance-like book; sensual dance, marriage counselling and infidelity. Then it veers off so drastically no where that I'm not sure whether the author intended it to be that way or she was hallucinating when she wrote this. It was an aimless ramble with no ending and I don't even know what the message the writer was trying to convey. I'm glad I read her Plantagenet novels first because if this is the first novel by the author that I've read, I would have given her up for good. She's better off writing historical fiction than this modern trash.
April 21, 2013
Professor Charles Hartley, approaching middle age, has realized what’s wrong with his life—it’s his wife, Alice, part of his struggling, underfunded, under-regarded Past. Just as certainly, little Miranda Bloomfeather, with her skimpy clothes, pert little bum, and grades in need of improvement, is undoubtedly the Future. This leaves poor Alice powerless and unhappy until a chance encounter brings her the opportunity to escape and embrace the taste of freedom.
This is a delightful, rollicking romp of a story, where Alice runs away (taking most of their possessions with her) to create a lifestyle so alternative that visitors forget why they came.
This is a delightful, rollicking romp of a story, where Alice runs away (taking most of their possessions with her) to create a lifestyle so alternative that visitors forget why they came.
December 16, 2012
I've read a few of Philippa Gregory's historical novels, and given up on some part way through for various reasons. But Alice Hartley's Happiness was a different type of novel altogether. It was funny and quirky. It tells the story of Alice Hartley who leaves her boring husband, taking all his belongings with her. She picks up a toy-boy lover and almost accidentally sets of a commune to enable people to grow and to love one another. Not to be taken too seriously it was a refreshing change from the Tudor courts and I enjoyed it very much.
August 15, 2019
For the love of all that is good, don't read this book before any of Philippa Gregory's historical fiction. Those are well written and interesting, well researched and deserve their good reviews.
This book was utter shite. I DNFed at 50 pages, after the main character THREW A CAT IN THE BIN. Not only is this animal abuse, but she did it because she didn't like the cat's "vibe". Well, maybe he could tell that you're a manipulative woman who uses people to get her own way? Or something else. I don't know.
Basically, I should have left this book in the charity shop where I found it.
This book was utter shite. I DNFed at 50 pages, after the main character THREW A CAT IN THE BIN. Not only is this animal abuse, but she did it because she didn't like the cat's "vibe". Well, maybe he could tell that you're a manipulative woman who uses people to get her own way? Or something else. I don't know.
Basically, I should have left this book in the charity shop where I found it.
October 5, 2013
I picked this up randomly while browsing in the library since I have read a number of Philippa Gregory's historical novels. This one written 20 years ago now is more contemporary and focuses on the wife of a university professor. As one myself, I really couldn't relate to the university environment and I found the whole book rather odd, especially the scene with the baby and the dolphins! Not one to recommend unfortunately.
July 2, 2014
This book was not what I expected. I thought going by the cover it was historical fiction. It was a pleasant surprise. It was about a woman stuck in a boring marriage, her husband is having an affair with a young student. Things start to turn really bizarre as she takes up with a younger man and they embark on an alternative lifestyle, much to the horror of the local community. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it.
December 9, 2015
I'm on page 47 and the charming Alice has just killed a cat and chucked him in the bin. No. Just no. I'm not reading any more of this shit.
February 10, 2025
Totally totally totally weird and I did not like it!!!
April 4, 2018
Exactly the frivolous breather I needed between more serious novels. Frivolous, but well written and satirically clever, reminding me often of Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. What happens when a rejected middle-aged faculty wife meets a gullible student who has so far failed to lose his virginity and is heir to a large empty house suitable for gatherings of other unhappy students and frustrated faculty wives? Very enjoyable nonsense. It starts with the buxom Mrs Hartley failing to arouse Professor Hartley with her Dance of the Seven Veils. My second-hand copy smells faintly of patchouli oil.
December 21, 2019
This book was absolutely bonkers! I have seen there are very low reviews of it here on Goodreads, I think from people who just expect Ms Gregory to write the same genre over and over.
I loved the satirical, hysterical, over the top departure from anything else she has written (that I have read). It is obviously not to be taken seriously as so many readers seem to have done.
The novel is so obviously not meant to be realistic, just absurd, a fun, take the mickey out of every ounce of life!
The type of book that really takes your imagination away and you can forget everything else going on in your life.
I loved the satirical, hysterical, over the top departure from anything else she has written (that I have read). It is obviously not to be taken seriously as so many readers seem to have done.
The novel is so obviously not meant to be realistic, just absurd, a fun, take the mickey out of every ounce of life!
The type of book that really takes your imagination away and you can forget everything else going on in your life.
December 16, 2015
If you like the Other Boleyn Girl and the rest of the series, this one is nothing like them. This book is very, very strange. So strange that I kept reading thinking that it must redeem itself. It didn't. Full of Mother Earth, strange sex, giving birth with dolphins, poisoning old ladies, as well as being written in the Omniscient point of view, (with the writer occasionally and randomly writing directly to you the reader), it makes this a strange read, that to me, didn't make sense. I would not recommend even though I am a fan of the author's Tudor series.
April 23, 2020
Ohmygosh - this book bored me to Tartarus & back. Tie a rope around my legs & attach that to a block of concrete & drop me in the ocean, because I want to get as far away from this book. Oh, it was boring. The idea, the way it was written, it was all suggestive, & you had to figure out what was going on - don't get me wrong, I've read many books like that, but this was...ugh. Anyway- it was also slow, & I just wanted to get to the point. In the end...I don't even know what happened, I just wanted to get through it.
March 31, 2023
3.5
Absolute madness, start to finish. Nothing even close to what I’ve previously read by Philippa Gregory, but hilarious and ridiculous the whole way through. A great satire of romance novels and rediscovery, with a main character you love to hate, you somehow find yourself rooting for her even though you know she’s kind of awful.
Absolute madness, start to finish. Nothing even close to what I’ve previously read by Philippa Gregory, but hilarious and ridiculous the whole way through. A great satire of romance novels and rediscovery, with a main character you love to hate, you somehow find yourself rooting for her even though you know she’s kind of awful.
September 9, 2011
Well - I love Phillipa Gregory, but this was rubbish. It's do disappointing to read such a bad novel when her historical novels are so great.
I wanted to give up after first twenty pages but only kept reading for the fact it's Phillipa's book.
I wanted to give up after first twenty pages but only kept reading for the fact it's Phillipa's book.
June 9, 2014
I have loved reading Philippa Gregory since first reading The Constant Princess. I enjoyed another book of hers set in modern day however this one I did not. It was scattered, the characters had no real personality, the setting and situation although interesting was not well written.
May 13, 2015
This is the weirdest book ever, the main character was a bit too eccentric and was too in touch with her sexual side for me. Compared to the other amazing works of Philippa Gregory I am very disappointed.
May 29, 2020
What. The. Heck.
I honestly can't tell you the plot. Nothing made sense and I literally had no connection to ANY of the characters. I'm not convinced Philippa Gregory actually wrote this, it is so unlike her other work. Completely unrecognizable.
I honestly can't tell you the plot. Nothing made sense and I literally had no connection to ANY of the characters. I'm not convinced Philippa Gregory actually wrote this, it is so unlike her other work. Completely unrecognizable.
August 2, 2021
Couldn’t believe this was a Philippa Gregory novel. Too weird from the start. Couldn’t identify with or understand the characters. They were totally unlikable and the circumstances and plot seemed like it was written in the 1950s not the 90s. Unreadable!
August 28, 2009
different from her other books - but looking forward to reading the White Princess and her new set of novels that are being released
Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews