The Pursuit of Happiness - by Douglas Kennedy (Paperback)

About the Book

Set amidst the dynamic optimism of postwar New York and the subsequent nightmare of the McCarthy era, "The Pursuit of Happiness" is a great, tragic love story and a tale of divided loyalties, decisive moral choices and the random workings of destiny.

Book Synopsis

This international bestseller tells the incredible and heartbreaking love story of Sara and Jack as they learn to understand their differences in postwar New York.

"Kennedy tells his epic tale with a keen eye and brisk pace.... a winningly sincere love story." --Publishers Weekly

Manhattan, Thanksgiving eve, 1945.

The war is over, and Eric Smythe's party was in full swing. All his clever Greenwich Village friends were there. So too was his sister Sara, an independent, outspoken young woman, starting to make her way in the big city.And then in walked Jack Malone, a U.S. Army journalist just back from a defeated Germany, a man whose world view was vastly different than that of Eric and his friends.

This chance meeting between Sara and Jack and the choices they both made in the wake of it would eventually have profound consequences, both for themselves and for those closest to them for decades afterwards.

Set amidst the dynamic optimism of postwar New York and the subsequent nightmare of the McCarthy era, The Pursuit of Happiness is a great, tragic love story; a tale of divided loyalties, decisive moral choices and the random workings of destiny.

Review Quotes

"An engrossing novel that transcends decades.... It's a spellbinding but tragic read that you should not miss." --The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK)

"Kennedy tells his epic tale with a keen eye and brisk pace.... a winningly sincere love story." --Publishers Weekly

"Kennedy vividly depicts the heady atmosphere of post-World War II New York City, the status of working women in the 1950s, the horrors of the McCarthy era, and the ways of the heart at any time. A romantic, sweeping read that will appeal to fans of women's and historical fiction." --Library Journal


"This weighty tome is as readable as the '50s bestsellers it channels. The prolific Kennedy, known mainly in the U.K. and France, deserves a wider readership in his native United States." --Kirkus Reviews