The Year of Living Danishly

Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country

By: Helen Russell

Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?

Helen decides there is only one way to find out: she will give herself a year, trying to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From child care, education, food and interior design to SAD, taxes, sexism and an unfortunate predilection for burning witches, The Year of Living Danishly is a funny, poignant record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.

Helen Russell is a journalist and former editor of MarieClaire.co.uk. She now lives in rural Jutland and works as a Scandinavia correspondent for the Guardian as well as writing a column on Denmark for the Telegraph.

©2015 Helen Russell (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"A lovely mix of English sensibility and Danish pragmatism. Helen seems to have understood more about the Danish character than I have! My only worry is that it will make everyone want to have a go and my holiday home area will get overcrowded." (Sandi Toksvig)

"Russell is possessed of a razor-sharp wit and a winning self-deprecation - two of the things that make this book such a delight." ( The Independent)

Great change in perspective.

The narration was fun. It felt like she was in the same room with me telling me all about the interesting year she had.

Brilliant!

I really enjoyed listening to this. It came at a x when I needed to hear abt slowing down and re-evaluating. With humor and attention to detail. she made a country I haven't thought much about, fascinating. Taught me that I really need to broaden my horizons.

Love it

The book starts out a bit slow and I thought about listening to something else instead but it gets really good from when they move to Denmark and she is starting her research. And that’s what to me should make it a must read for all politicians, policy and decision makers. She researched so much incredibly valuable info and basically lays out the basics on how to create a better more equal and most importantly happy society and all that is narrated in a really short while and captivating style.. and what makes me most hopeful is that apparently you can change an existent, not-ideal society by implementing all the right policies, you can actually change the mindset of people. Love it.

Mixed Bag

I thought I was going to love this book, and I actually did for the first few chapters--fascinating about Lego headquarters. Then the author went on a boring and droning rant of Danish history that sounded like something straight out of Wikipedia. Back on the more human side, I loved her description of the alarm clock. Some very funny parts. Scary midwife episode.

But then in the end it became more of a political commentary about immigrants. Glad I read this and there were some redeeming qualities...but it sure would never convince me I'd like to live in Denmark or even visit there for that matter. If the author wants a sense of community and friendly people she ought to try visiting some semi-rural areas of the good ole US of A.

Loved this - lots of laugh out loud moments

This book was a breath of fresh air. The Year of Living Danishly is completely different to anything else out there, beautifully told (it was as if it was being read by the author herself) and packed full of laugh out loud moments. Well worth a listen.

my whole life needs danished

I gotta get hygge. I'm definitely going to work to live my life more Danishly.

I always had a secret passion for Denmark. On my favorite trip to Europe from all European countries I decided I wanted to visit Denmark first. Maybe I would get a feeling of why Danish people are so happy. It is a beautiful country! This book inspires me to live a little more Danish. Maybe some day I'll be lucky enough to live a year in Denmark.

Refreshingly nice

This is an uplifting story- funny, adventurous, inspiring, and informative. Narrator is very good. Sometimes it gets a little heavy on the factoid side, but overall a story worth listening to.

Loved it!!

This book was fantastic! I loved the story she told while educating on how the Danes live. Narrator was spectacular!

Very entertaining and informative

Her sense of humor is great and we learned a lot as we are traveling Copenhagen in a few days. As a Canadian expat living in the US it did make me think about going back to Canada.