The Far End of Happy is fiction that draws heavily on a real event from author Kathryn Craft’s life. The novel’s main protagonist, Veronica (Ronnie) Farnham, is trying to leave a dead marriage and make a new start. But her husband, Jeff, increasingly depressed and mentally unstable, decides his family would be better off without him. After an altercation and a 911 call, the police (thankfully) evacuate Ronnie, her two sons, and her mother. Then follows a twelve-hour standoff as police negotiators try to talk Jeff down. Interspersed with the tension of waiting are the musings and flashbacks from the point of view of three very different women: Ronnie, her mother, Beverley, and Jeff’s mother, Janet. Each woman has buried secrets that may, or may not, have an impact on the situation. Continue reading “The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft – Review”
Elle Carter Neal is the author of the middle-grade chapter book The Convoluted Key, picture book I Own All the Blue, and teen science-fantasy novel Madison Lane and the Wand of Rasputin. She has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, holding childhood slumber-party audiences entranced until the early hours of the morning. Elle decided to be an author the day she discovered that real people wrote books and that writing books was a real job.