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Biographical Note:
Jem Calder was born in Cambridge and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in
The Stinging Fly and
Granta. He is the author of the short-story collection
Reward System.
Review Quotes:
"A totally devastating--and all too relatable--portrait of modern romance." --Barry Pierce, Vogue (UK)
"Calder's characters feel startlingly (and, at times, infuriatingly) real . . . Sparse and exacting, Calder has a remarkable way of capturing the complexities of dating, relationships, and simply existing in the 2020s . . . A clever, wry, and hyper-realistic portrayal of contemporary life." --Kirkus
"
I Want You to Be Happy is an irresistible novel that asks complex questions about contemporary life and refuses easy answers. I couldn't stop reading."
--Sally Rooney
"Jem Calder's
I Want You To Be Happy brought me so close to its characters that their world became more real to me than my own. This is a gripping, wise, sad, funny book. It pays such close attention to the textures of life as it's actually lived
--in all its in-between moments and unspoken feelings and ambivalence, its blackouts and needy texts and ambushes of tenderness. Jem Calder feels like a particular kind of wizard, sculpting precisely-realized moments of aliveness that feel, at once, startlingly lucid and radiant with mystery. I was utterly enthralled."
--Leslie Jamison, author of
Splinters
"I became totally invested in this. An elegant and disquieting vision of contemporary pain."
--Saba Sams, author of Gunk
Review Citations:
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Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2026 (EAN 9780374620554, Hardcover)
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Library Journal 05/22/2026 pg. 1 (EAN 9780374620554, Hardcover)
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Publishers Weekly 06/29/2026 (EAN 9780374620554, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio:Calder, Jem
Jem Calder was born in Cambridge and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in
The Stinging Fly and
Granta. He is the author of the short-story collection
Reward System.
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