When Vincenzo Latronico’s novel, Perfection, a portrayal of an expat creative couple living in Berlin, was published in English last year, it became one of Fitzcarraldo’s fastest-ever selling works of fiction. The publisher’s signature blue cover populated Instagram feeds and TikTok videos, ironically vindicating Latronico’s commentary on the increasing sameness of our digital lives. Jem Calder’s debut novel, I Want You to Be Happy, seems destined for a similar viral fate but Faber plays things a little differently. In this case, the cover pre-empts the book’s digital commodification, featuring a list of terms that might describe a life optimised for sharing – or mocking – on social media: ‘QR code menu. G&T. Overground. Labradoodle.’

The novel portrays an age-gap ‘situationship’ in contemporary London, where a lot of time is spent on WhatsApp and in small-plates restaurants. Like Calder’s debut, the short story collection Reward System, I Want You to Be Happy tackles addiction and digital dependency. But whereas his previous book seemed full of hope for future happiness, this one is shot through with a profound romantic pessimism.

Chuck, thirty-five, the older of the central pair, is a copywriter – lead copywriter, he’s quick to tell people – at an ad agency, mainly working for corporate ‘disruptors’ anxious of being ‘accused of greenwashing’. Joey, twenty-three, is a barista at an independent coffee shop and an aspiring poet. You