A down-on-her-luck musician finds dark secrets lurking beneath the polished exteriors of glamorous New York City moms in this pointedly funny satire-thriller from Laura Hankin (The Summertime Girls).
Twenty-eight-year-old Claire Martin's band has finally hit the big time with a chart-topping single but, unfortunately, they dumped her first. Her savings account depleted, she takes a job as a playgroup musician, seeing endless refrains of "If You're Happy and You Know It" as less demeaning than returning to her judgmental family in Ohio. To her surprise, she finds the glossy gaggle of moms charming, even aspirational in their cocooned world of money, wellness products and apparent inner peace. Little does she know Amara, the coolest mom, hides her spending from her husband, or that Instagram-famous Whitney's passionless marriage has her contemplating an affair with another mom's spouse. When she blunders into a bombshell that affects the entire group, Claire learns how flawed and human the women are, and also realizes they're in more danger than they know.
Hankin confronts the ironies of parenting and the "endless ways to do motherhood wrong." Though not the first to mine this territory, her sly wit puts a dry, welcome spin on the issue. Third-act revelations turn the story completely on its head; what seems straightforward and earnest morphs into a delightfully screwball thriller. Quirky and surprising, Happy and You Know It's sharp humor, empathetic portrayal of motherhood, and complex female relationships will have readers clapping their hands. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads