Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself. . . . Hector is very good at treating patients in need of his help. But he can't do much for those who are simply dissatisfied with life, and that is beginning to depress him. When a patient tells him he looks in need of a vacation, Hector takes a trip around the world to learn what makes people happy and sad. As he travels from Paris to China to...

"Annie Hebden is stuck. Stuck in her boring job, with her irritating roommate, in a life no thirty-five-year-old would want. But deep down, Annie is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she'd once taken for granted--and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard"--Amazon.com.

"This dark-comedic novel is about a woman, Janet, who wears a cloak of gloomy realism, until one summer when she learns of a new pill that offers even confirmed cynics a short-term taste of happiness. Her family stages an intervention, her boyfriend leaves her, and she decides to take the pill to get through the Christmas holiday. What follows is life-changing for all concerned, in ways no one expected"--

"Heart's Ease is the loveliest house anyone knows and home to the fortunate Blyth family. Siblings Felicity, Charity, Honor and Bruno enjoy a blissfully happy childhood there before life pulls them in very different directions. Beautiful Felicity gains her handsome husband, delightful children and elegant London house, but all is far from perfect. Charity, the clever one, lives for her work, with no time for emotional involvement, until the least...

"It's been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong post-college European adventure. Since then, she's lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea's thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most successful moneymaker is unquestioned. When her introverted...

"An unexpected friendship saves a young man's life in this moving, utterly charming debut about chosen family, the winding road to happiness, and the grace of second chances. Could I one day inspire happiness in others, the same way he seemed to do in me? It's 2005 and Harley has dropped out of college to move home, back to rural England where he works a dead-end job at a movie theater. Estranged from his father and finding every attempt at happiness...