How to Be Hopeful

The hilarious and joyful account of trying to living a more hopeful, happier life in hard times, from the million-copy Sunday Times bestseller and author of How to Be a Woman and How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran.'A life-changer and a minor bible for our times' Emma Thompson'This just might be the best "wellbeing" book I have ever read' Emma Gannon 'I felt lighter and happier for having read it' Jennifer Saunders'Happiness is a thing that must be done over and over and over again. Like laundry. And sex. It’s not a thing you are - it’s a thing you do.'Not getting enough sleep, doomscrolling on your phone, and feeling acid anxiety every time you watch the news? You’re not alone.One morning, Caitlin Moran lay in bed and realised: she had finally reached Peak Despair. The point where, in books and movies, the heroine decides to move to a remote farmhouse, walk an ancient, 600-mile pathway, or adopt a baby hare. The moment where someone goes on a quest to find … hope.But this, this is not that kind of book. Caitlin tried - but it turns out remote Welsh farmhouses are really expensive. No-one with a job can walk 600 miles. And it’s incredibly hard to get access to baby hares in Crouch End.So instead, Caitlin set herself a different challenge: could she stay in the same house, in the same neighbourhood and find ways to feel happier and more hopeful about the frantic modern world?Over the course of a year, she experimented with changing the small things that make up everyday life. This included (but was not limited to): Leaving social media, and stepping away from the 24/7 news cycle, sitting on buses without headphones and listening to what people are really saying, picking litter, donating blood, rewilding a garden and, the hardest thing of all - learning to fall back in love with the world again.Over the course of a year, Caitlin found that life can be radically transformed when you rebel against the news cycle and algorithms that want to keep us angry, adrenalised, and anxious. You may not be able to change the world - but you can change your days. And, once you’ve changed your days, maybe you could change the world. Just a little bit.Full of Caitlin's trademark humour and storytelling, How to Be Hopeful is a funny and uplifting exploration of how to find hope, happiness and connection in difficult times – and make everyday life feel a little better.Praise for Caitlin Moran:‘I adore, admire and – more – am addicted to Caitlin Moran’s writing’ Nigella Lawson'Profound, funny and true' Lauren Laverne‘I have so much love for Caitlin Moran’ Lena Dunham‘Exceptionally brilliant and powerful’ Marina Hyde‘Superbly funny’ Guardian