The Handbag of Happiness is a collection of rollicking, defiant, real-life stories where self-improvement is satire and life-changing moments are found in the absurdity of our mysterious little lives.

From The Bathing Costume of Calamity to The Apron Strings of Lament and The Brassiere of Lovelessness, Alannah Hill shares hard-won wisdom from a career in the fashion world (along with the fine art of stickybeaking). Irreverent, provocative, self-depreciating and witty, Alannah tells us in her own imperfect way how she overcame adversity — and sometimes didn't, despite her best intentions.

In a world full of self-help cliches, contradictory messages and new-puritan rules, Alannah opens her bejewelled handbag of happiness, showing us how being a little bit wrong can sometimes be so very, very right.