Spotlight for Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer

 

Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer

Published:  May 5, 2026 by St. Martin's Press

Genre:  Literary Fiction

Taken from Goodreads:  From the bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover comes a vibrant, heartfelt novel about friendship over the decades, self-discovery, and what it means to have a life well-lived.

Break the rules. Find your joy.

For over eighty years, Joy Bridport has played by the rules: she's been a devoted wife and mother, contributing to the community in her small Hudson Valley town. But her quiet existence is jolted when she learns that her best friend, Hazel, only has months left to live. Hazel has always been the more adventurous one of their duo, and she seems at peace with all that she’s squeezed out of her long life. Yet Joy realizes she can’t say the same.

Determined to live boldly and make the most of the time that she and Hazel have left together, Joy steps outside of her comfort zone—and into a bit of trouble. But as her foray into rule-breaking escalates into committing petty crime, Joy must consider what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, and whether there's a way for her to embrace the liberation that "Bad Joy" offers without losing all that she holds dear.

Is it ever too late to become who we're meant to be? With laugh-out-loud hijnks and emotional heft, Good Joy, Bad Joy is a heartwarming and wise celebration of the choices we make, the friendships we cherish, and the lengths we go for love.

 

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Mikki Brammer is a writer from Tasmania, Australia, now based in New York City via France and Spain.

Her debut novel, The Collected Regrets of Clover, was a USA Today bestseller and is so far published in 27 languages. It was named a Best Book of Summer 2023 by the New York Times, a Best Book of 2023 by NPR, and was a Book of the Month pick for May 2023. It was also nominated for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Debut and Best Fiction. Her second novel, Good Joy, Bad Joy, will be published on May 19, 2026.

In addition to fiction, Mikki writes about architecture, art, and design for publications including Architectural Digest, Dwell, ELLE Decor, and Metropolis.