Hector And The Search For Happiness, By Francois Lelord

Hector, the bespectacled star of this breezy novelette by the French happiness guru, Francois Lelord, is a young psychiatrist on a mission. Depressed that that he can't make his patients happy either with pills or platitudes, he sets out on a journey around the world to find the secret of true happiness. His encounters include conversations with wealthy financiers, charming Chinese students and eminent professors.

Served up as a series of philosophical bonne bouches, Hector's lessons for life may verge on the banale - make sure to be good to your friends, be loved for who you are, take holidays in the sun - but their effect is unexpectedly cheering. The book has been billed as a 'feelgood gem' and it has so far sold over two million copies - perhaps proving that it has made the world a happier place. The next book in the series by Lelord promises to reveal the secrets of l'amour.