Hector and the Search for Happiness - (Hector's Journeys) by Francois Lelord (Paperback)

About the Book

For fans of "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and "The Alchemist" comes this international bestseller--a charming fable about modern life and the quest for the secret of happiness.

Book Synopsis

Now a major motion picture starring Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Toni Collette, and Christopher Plummer

The international bestseller with more than two million copies sold

"Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself. . . . And so he decided to take a trip around the world, and everywhere he went he would try to understand what made people happy or unhappy."

Hector travels from Paris to China to Africa to the United States, and along the way he keeps a list of observations about the people he meets. Combining the winsome appeal of The Little Prince with the inspiring philosophy of The Alchemist, Hector's journey around the world and into the human soul is entertaining, empowering, and smile-inducing--as winning in its optimism as it is wise in its simplicity.

Review Quotes

"Utterly charming..."Hector and the Search for Happiness" turns psychological research into a fast-paced, enchanting story. Lelord himself is a psychiatrist, and his interest in the human mind is infectious... Fans of "Eat, Pray, Love" and "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" won't want to miss this gem of a book."
-"BookPage"

"Unexpectedly cheering."
-"The Independent" (London)

"Even the most aloof, the most detached reader will be won over by this book."
-"Cosmopolitan" (Germany)

"A feel-good gem . . . Francois Lelord has created a 21st-century hero."
-"Good Housekeeping" (UK)

"Utterly charming...

About the Author

François Lelord has had a successful career as a psychiatrist in France, where he was born, and in the United States, where he did his postdoc (UCLA). He is the co-author of a number of bestselling self-help books and has consulted for companies interested in reducing stress for their employees. He was on a trip to Hong Kong, questioning his personal and professional life, when the Hector character popped into his mind, and he wrote Hector and the Search for Happiness not quite knowing what kind of book he was writing. The huge success of Hector, first in France, then in Germany and other countries, led him to spend more time writing and traveling, and at the height of the SARS epidemic he found himself in Vietnam, where he practiced psychiatry for a French NGO whose profits go toward heart surgery for poor Vietnamese children. While in Vietnam he also met his future wife, Phuong; today they live in Thailand.

Hector and the Search for Happiness is François Lelord's first novel, and the first in a series that includes Hector and the Secrets of Love and Hector and the Search for Lost Time.