Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber

In her latest collection of linked short stories Secrets of Happiness (2021), Joan Silber writes about the impacts of a father’s secrets on his extended family and the people in their lives. As the characters revisit their own beliefs about themselves and each other, Silber weaves a web of connections, based on the kinds of questions they ask and the conflicts and the challenges they face. And Silber does all this with humor and nuance, in crystalline, engaging prose.

Silber’s previous collection, Improvement, winner of the National Book Award, dug into questions about money, generosity, and repayment, among other things, and, similar to Secrets of Happiness, the ways seemingly insignificant or simple decisions can have wide-ranging impact, one that can extend across the world and time. On first read, the links between the stories may seem remote, but as I read and reread Silber’s novels, the Butterfly Effect notion that resonates throughout her work becomes evident and profound. As Maureen Corrigan states in her review for NPR’s Fresh Air: “It’s not like [the characters know] each other, but they’re connected in some cosmic way, almost like a horizontal extended family tree that can only be observed from space. And they all have such smart things to say about love.”

If you enjoy short stories, or linked stories, in which an entire collection resonates more fully when each stand-alone section is read in relationship to the others, I encourage you to check out Secrets of Happiness and other books by Joan Silber.