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Reviewed by Jefto Pierre for Readers' Favorite
Happisad Memories by M. P. B. Clairette is the story of a woman whose life falls apart after she loses her baby to stillbirth. She goes back home carrying a kind of grief that nobody around her really understands. People say the wrong things, some avoid talking about it altogether, and even things between her and her husband start to get tense because of everything that transpired. While she is trying to deal with these changes, something strange happens with the urn that holds her baby’s ashes. A small winged creature called a Nalhak appears and tells her about a place called the Land of Morning. This place survives on something called 'happisad memories,' which are moments that hold both happiness and sadness. The Nalhak asks her to go back and share nine memories from her pregnancy and the time around it, exactly the way they happened. Each memory becomes part of a strange journey through her past. But will this finally bring her some closure, or will she lose herself in the process?
Happisad Memories by M. P. B. Clairette is a work of literary fiction that mixes real-life grief with a touch of fantasy and drama. The theme is simple: some memories will make you smile and hurt at the same time. The Nalhak and the Land of Morning provide a creative way to explore that idea without turning the book into a typical fantasy story. I liked how the author reveals the small, uncomfortable moments that follow a loss like this, especially when other people don't know what to say. Those scenes made the storyline very real. I also appreciated how the memories are not cleaned up or made prettier than they were. They are shown as they happened, good and bad together. For me, the story reads like someone slowly working through grief, one memory at a time. Overall, I am glad I read it. Highly recommended.
