Handbag of Happiness

Part agony aunt, part moral philosopher and irrepressibly curious, Alannah Hill shares her unique take on how to fathom life's ticking timebombs of adversity with her inimitable blend of gothic hilarity and old-fashioned wisdom.

Hilarious, often outlandish and always insightful, The Handbag of Happiness is a collection of essays that flout convention and celebrate the absurd. Evoking the classic humor of Nora Ephron and the modern sensibility of Sloane Crosley, author Alannah Hill shows us that perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be, and her hard-won wisdom from a career in the fashion world will charm and delight even (and especially) the most jaded of readers.

From The Bathing Costume of Calamity to The Apron Strings of Lament and The Brassiere of Lovelessness, Alannah shares, in her own imperfect way, how she overcame adversity—and sometimes didn't, despite her best intentions.

A breath of fresh air in a world full of self-improvement courses, wellness retreats and oppressive rules, Alannah says what other women are thinking. In this irreverent and fearlessly frank collection of advice, she flirts with trouble and finds the black humor in modern-day chaos—and, in doing so, shows readers that being a bit wrong can sometimes be a little bit right.