Marissa Higgins’ arresting debut follows a jittery attorney who becomes romantically entangled with a married lesbian couple. When she meets The Wives, Helen is hanging on by a thread. Her dad is in prison for a disturbing crime she’s downing cough syrup to avoid thinking about. In between flirting with her young assistant for a cheap thrill, Helen begins an intense relationship with the Wives that forces her to grapple with her tumultuous childhood and the demons she’s running from. The result is a twisted page-turner that recalls the bleak New England edge of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen and the sapphic psychodrama of Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite. 

Over Instagram DM, Marissa and I discussed manners, Nyquil, and writing out of spite. 

Anna:
Ok so as a former jittery attorney myself, I’m curious to know what made you decide to make Helen one!

Marissa:
I liked the idea of Helen getting herself out of her generational poverty and doing the “right” choices, like finishing college, grad school etc and it not being enough to fulfill her or change her life… There are tons of similar jobs ofc but I wanted something where Helen would have some opportunity for remote work and to sort of skate by in a way she couldn't (hopefully??) as something like a physician or classroom teacher etc. Then on a personal level a poet friend I had years ago went into copyright law and said it was a lot of paperwork and I was like ok perfect!! For Helen!!

Anna:
Lolol that makes sense. I feel like lots of attorneys are downing their own versions of cough syrup all day. Can you tell me about *that* decision? I loved it. I'm partial to characters seeking oblivion but the cough syrup gave it an unexpected twist!

Marissa:
I have to credit my agent with that one!! She encouraged me to think of habits and physical ways Helen could seek attention, she always had the cough and her brother's pneumonia as part of her story so the Nyquil felt natural! I liked the idea that it was something she could technically get legally, wouldn’t flag a drug test etc, but was noticeable… the taste in her mouth, etc… I also liked that it was artificial, something she can get at a shitty convenience store with her snacks lol

Anna:
Love that. Yes, it's a very convenient vice. And good agent note! Speaking of drafting, the book was originally called The Wives, right? Can you talk about the new title, why you changed it and how you came up with it?

Marissa:
Yes!! Excellent memory 
So to be honest I was walking around a bookstore and saw a whole display of a really successful book called The Wives and thought I was having a stroke lol
I mentioned it to my agent and editor and they were like yeah let's get a new title lol
So then I came up with a list of maybe 10-15 titles from the text and I think they got approval from someone (marketing?) and it became a good happy girl
I’m searching my email to see if i can find the list of options 🌝
1.TRIBADES (old synonym for “lesbian,” doesn’t appear in the text but I keep chewing on the sound of it)
2. ALMOST LOVE
3. US SAD WOMEN
4. A GOOD HAPPY GIRL
5. NONE OF US ARE HAPPY
6. SLICE AFTER SLICE OF HOPE
7. (MY?) ORDINARY WIVES
8. WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN
9. A WOMEN’S WINTER
10. WIVES WIVES WIVES
11. MY STRANGE HAPPINESS
12. CHEERFUL & AFRAID
13. PARALLEL QUESTIONS
14. OUR STRANGE INTIMACY
15. STRANGE INTIMACIES
16. SICK, SICK, & SICKER
17. GHOSTS BEAR WEIGHT
18. TERRIBLE & UNKNOWABLE
19. DOMESTIC ELECTRICITY
20. THE THIRD
21. UNICORN
22. MOTHER ME MEANLY
23. MOTHER ME
24. ANOTHER WOMAN GONE
25. THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO BE DISHONEST

Anna:
Ooo lots of good ones here. MOTHER ME MEANLY <3

Marissa::
I can't believe I sent twenty-five options lol
Truly relentless of me lol

Anna:
The press materials compare A Good Happy Girl to Melissa Broder and Kristen Arnett, but I’m more getting Ottessa Moshfegh in that your writing is bleak, twisted, and kind of grotesque (in a good way). Who were your influences for this book and in general?

Marissa:
I remember reading Raven Lelani’s Luster and feeling so encouraged and excited, like it was something that jostled readers and got people talking
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell too
Docile by K.M. Spanza, speculative dystopian and so sexually vivid it totally scrambled my brain

Anna:
I loveeedddd Luster

Marissa:
This novella
Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones
Totally recommend, it's fantastic

Anna:
Ooh I'll read, what about it inspired you?

Marissa:
Box Hill is really special imho
It's about gay men
The narrative voice, it’s so stylish, tight and still dreamy and moody, like the huge age gap and power dynamics and the sheer mess and dysfunction
And yet it's still delicate and very beautiful, a real feat imo
There’s an aching and yearning among the upset that I find really compelling, there’s a lot of artistry there

Anna:
Stylish, tight, dreamy, power dynamics, mess, dysfunction, delicate, beauty - you're speaking my lang!
*Buying now*

Marissa:
😇😇😇😇
It’s v short too lol

Anna:
So I told you when I first read this book that I was surprised by it because your prose is so different from your texting/tweeting/DMing style. I guess that’s natural to some extent but most authors I talk to tend to be pretty consistent among their prose writing and their texting/social media. Have you heard this before or do you think it's true or am I completely off base?

Marissa:
I think you’re among the first to clock it but I definitely think you're right lol

Anna:
Go on

Marissa:
Helen's voice came really naturally to me, very fully formed, and feels probably more honest to me internally than how I communicate generally… I'm really soft spoken and I think people read me as very kind bc of it, which is so different than how I see myself lol

Anna:
So you're a mean girl masquerading as a nice girl
To be reductive

Marissa:
Lolol 100%
It's my catholic guilt or something

Anna:
Or a twisted girl masquerading as a wholesome one

Marissa:
I try very hard to be polite and normal, like manners are weirdly important to me given I'm a huge fuckup generally but my inner world is probably a less palatable version of Helen’s 💀💀

Anna:
You’re out here trying to be A Good Happy Girl
So this is your debut! How long was this book in the making, and how does it feel to be so close to having it in the world?

Marissa:
I feel grateful and mortified

Anna:
God bless! Mood! Etc!

Marissa:
I started writing Helen's story during the pandemic. I took a workshop online with Garth Greenwell on style in fiction. And I wrote Helen and Catherine running into each other in a hallway. It didn't go terribly well in the workshop but I’d stumbled into Helen’s voice and wrote it as a novel for a challenge/out of spite lol

Anna:
Love a spite novel
What happened in the workshop?

Marissa:
Tbh I think I didn't know how to plot or pace or introduce anything so I had it coming but I think the general reaction was what the actual fuck

Anna:
Lol. Was that your first experience writing fiction or had you been writing it for a while?

Marissa:
Tbh I was nervous to write fiction in a workshop
I’d taken a few others prior but I'd been in the nonfiction world for a stretch and it showed I think
I also wasn’t studying the fiction I was reading tbh, like id like or dislike things but I wasn't looking like oh ok this happens at point 25% and here's why it works i was more like ok i enjoy this and that was it

Anna:
Ah ok well either all the reading paid off or you're a savant because your fiction writing is a++++++

Marissa:
Lol anna I credit you among the writers who taught me fiction!! You remember Exalted touched me deeply lol

Anna:
It’s funny Exalted inspired you because when you read my next book I think you'll see that your twisted sapphic psychodrama inspired me as well

Marissa:
I am honored to hear that anna!!

Anna:
You recently sold another book, an early draft of which I had the pleasure of reading—it’s so good. What can you say about that?

Marissa:
The next book is SWEETENER and it's a screwball lesbian dark comedy according to my publisher

Anna:
Lol, yes, I think that's true! And also the best genre?

Marissa:
It's out in April 2025, right after my paperback of A Good Happy Girl which feels wiiiild

Anna:
Hell yes

Marissa:
I honestly can't believe it sold, it just feels like a present from the universe honestly

Anna:
I can!! I loved A Good Happy Girl but I think I liked Sweetener. I've been thinking about it. And not *just* because it shares its name with an Ariana Grande album.

Marissa:
You’ve been so supportive of my work, it means so much to me 😭

Anna:
Well I really like your writing, trust, I don't do these things out of the goodness of my heart!

Marissa:
Lolol thank you mx dorn 🥹😇

Anna:
Ok I don't want to take too much more of your time and you've given me a lot of good sh*t (manners) so last q-  I know you read every ARC under the sun, what are the best ones you've read this year?

Marissa:
Ok some favorites: perfume and pain by anna dorm*, a skinny hot lesbian, women!

Anna: 
Lmao for the reader - Marissa is referencing a Goodreads review that charmingly misspelled my name

Marissa: 
In! Peril! By Jessie Ren Marshall (short stories), Bugsy (also short stories, very very queer and bdsm-y), First Love by Lilly Dancyger (essays), Knife River by Justine Champine
If you read one I’d say Knife River for you, it's lesbian and honestly excellent
It's a literary thriller I'd say, I'm not sure how they’re marketing it but

Anna:
Ok literary thriller is my fave genre and if it's lesbian? I'm on my way!
Thank you Marissa and I'm excited for your book(s) to hit the world!

Marissa:
Thank you my petite pretty princess 👑

Anna:
^You being nicer than you need to be again
A Good Happy Girl
<3