A beautifully spun yarn about the small Irish village of Faha as told by 78-year-old Noel (Noe) Crow, This Is Happiness unwinds slowly, with lots of detours and jumps through time. Niall Williams's writing is both lyrical and whimsical, the setting so atmospheric and enchanting that I could picture myself within Faha, and his characters so memorable and endearing that I missed them as soon as I left the last page. (SB)