In “The House of Happiness”, the writer Manu Causse recounts without filter his daughter-in-law’s fight against illness

“It’s a book that talks about life and how a catastrophe put my bond with her to the test, the circumstances meant that we lived our relationship to the fullest,” confides Manu Causse. It is a moving book published by the author who has lived for many years in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). After his children’s work, “Bien trop petit”, censored by Gérald Darmanin in 2023, his new novel, “La Maison du Bonheur”* released on January 14, is a love hymn to his daughter-in-law, Youma, who learned at the age of 18 that she was suffering from a rare cancer.

Illness diary

The 53-year-old writer recounts life with his wife, Emma, ​​and their blended tribe – three boys and a girl, Youma. While the children are about to leave their family cocoon, after the 2020 confinement, the family discovers the illness of the youngest, the one with whom the author forms a complicated stepfather relationship.

To face this ordeal, from the first days he kept an illness diary, where he spoke directly to her. With the main theme being the magnificent song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, which carries the reader into this story of love and resilience where Youma resists illness and finds a new place in this family.

Far from being a sad story, it describes without filter the countless chemotherapy sessions which punctuate their daily lives, the complications which require numerous stays in Toulouse hospitals, the hope of remission then the relapse, the doubts of the young girl but above all her immense courage and her moments of life, together.

When family ties transform ordeal into strength

The story is punctuated by the ritual of texting his daughter-in-law every morning during her hospitalization, ranging from bad taste jokes about her mother to the affection they show each other through a message like “wesh, I like you”. We laugh at the fanciful names that the young girl gives to the succulents on the stairs, renamed Pedro, Robin Rhubarbe or Anne Roumanoff. The reader is also touched by the days on the corner sofa in the living room where the family watches all kinds of films such as The Funeral Wedding, The Minions or the Atypical series when Youna is so tired that this corner becomes her refuge.

A poignant story about the illness that celebrates family ties and the ability to transform ordeal into strength, as when Youna launches into karaoke to Britney Spears and Lady Gaga the day after the announcement of her recurrence.

A life lesson

“It’s a mixture of facts, emotions that went through me, moods and sometimes anger that I experienced,” underlines Manu Causse. It’s a somewhat liberating book that shows the love you can have for your stepchildren and the beautiful life lesson she left us until the end, celebrating three days before her death. I took on this role of father-in-law in a hurry even though our relationships until then had sometimes been complicated.”

After eighteen months of fierce combat, Youma died on January 3, 2022. She had asked her father-in-law, who made her read her logbook in three notebooks, to publish it one day. A strong testimony to the difficulty of living with illness and then mourning.

“You have to live with your dead even if you are not mourning a child,” admits, with modesty, Manu Causse. Youma gave me peace, today there is a lot of sadness but we live for Youma.” Since this ordeal, Manu Causse has adopted his wife’s son and Emma her husband’s two sons.

*“The House of Happiness”, by Manu Causse, 352 pages, published by Harper Collins.