A Conversation About Happiness

A Conversation about Happiness is unsparing in its emotional openness, generosity, and tolerance of ambiguity. It is a compelling combination of fairy tale and investigative journalism in which no one appears to have done anything wrong, and yet nothing is quite right. * Susanna Moore, author of In the Cut *
Written with a cool-eyed compassion, this is a fascinating examination of the bittersweet experiments of '60s child rearing, of which Cuddihy was both a victim and a beneficiary. I found it deeply moving. -- Esther Freud
[An] evocative memoir * Guardian *
Cuddihy survived her damaged childhood both because of and despite her time at Summerhill. This paradox lies at the centre of her well-written and moving memoir. * Independent *
Swallows and Amazons one day, Lord of the Flies the next... [A] thoughtful and nuanced account. * Daily Telegraph *
She writes with vivid truthfulness, even-handed and observant... A fascinating document of an age and a mindset. * The Times *
The ironies within this compulsively readable account of Sixties child-rearing are many. The 'happiness' of the title Is clearly debatable, and yet the plight of the orphaned family - victims of thoughtless, selfish adults - is recounted with a commendable lack of emotion. * Daily Mail *
As a chilling portrait of the abuse of children - especially read in the context of all the current outrage - it is an impressive and disturbing work * Literary Review *
Cuddihy's craft is to elicit our sympathy in non-combative style... Cuddihy's triumph is to remain balanced throughout, leaving us to feel the spills. * Times Literary Supplement *
Mikey Cuddihy re-discovers her lost childhood in A Conversation About Happiness * Vanity Fair *