Then We'll Be Happy

Author: Alan Carrigan

Interest age: from c 14 years

Published on 13 August 2026 by Chicken House Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 272 pages
196 x 130 | 180g

If you're always thinking that the next thing will make

you happy ... what happens to right now? 

Seventeen-year-old Sam, who has cerebral palsy, wants some control

over his life.

When he is excluded from yet another school trip and has to spend

the day with his bully, it’s the tipping point. 

In his campaign for change, Sam gets more than he bargained for.

But if you’re always thinking that the next thing will make

you happy, what happens to right now?

A debut own-voices coming-of-age YA novel by young Irish

screenwriter and author, Alan Carrigan, who has quadriplegic

cerebral palsy.

An authentic, witty and nuanced story with a powerful,

universal message, about unlikely friendships and the realities

of living with disability.

Simultaneously hard-hitting and heartwarming, with shades

of Out of My Mind and Elle McNicoll.