With the verve and bite of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and the whip-smart, wisecracking sensibility of a golden-age Hollywood heroine, Marlowe Granados’s stunning début Happy Hour brilliantly captures a summer of striving in New York City. We spoke with author Marlowe Granados about the inspiration for Happy Hour, casting the audiobook’s narrator, and more!
Happy Hour
By Marlowe Granados • Narrated by Bronwyn Szabo
“A wild ride with a brilliantly cocky young protagonist who’s got the world wrapped around her finger. So propulsive you’ll feel like you’ve been hypnotized.”
Zoe Whittall, author of The Spectacular
Please tell us a little bit about what inspired you to write this book and how this story took shape for you.
I have always been friends with dynamic young women, and I felt there was this gap in literature portraying this specific type of world. The most important facet of Happy Hour is Isa’s voice and how it’s a particular way of speaking that feels plucked from the past. I want young women to relish in pleasure and fun!
In two sentences or less, what’s something that might surprise Libro.fm listeners about your audiobook?
Because the voice in the novel is so particular, I was actually a part of the casting process. We chose Bronwyn Szabo because she understood the rhythm and pitch perfectly.
Have you listened to your own audiobook? What struck you about the narration?
I think it’s so fascinating to hear your writing through someone else’s voice. At the same time it’s my words but there’s a distance that I enjoy…it makes the novel its own world separate to me.
What have independent bookstores and/or booksellers meant to you personally and professionally?
When I was thirteen or so, I would go to all the bookstores and make a space for my last name in the fiction aisles. A bookstore is one of the first places I go whenever I’m in a new place. I think booksellers are the most important people in the industry. If a bookseller doesn’t like your novel…well!
Header photo by Basia Wyszynski