Hector and the Search for Happiness (Movie Tie-In): A Novel (Hector's Journeys Book 1)

****Soon to be a major motion picture starring Simon Pegg, 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. Meyer, Philipp: American Rust: "Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation - as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love - that arises from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes." "Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever." Evoking John Steinbeck's novels of restless lives during the Great Depression, American Rust takes us into the contemporary American heartland at a moment of profound unrest and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid vision, a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and of the power of love and friendship to redeem us Myers, Margie: Unsuspecting Prey: Twenty-five years after her not too pleasant departure, Madison Monroe returns to her once palatial North Carolina home for her father’s funeral, assuming she will briefly reunite with family, then return home to Kansas City. But Madison’s return is nothing like she anticipated as one nefarious character after another is bent on doing her harm upon learning she has inherited the bulk of her father’s estate. When she learns that a provision in the will requires that she remain at the estate for the remainder of her life, she is paralyzed with fear. She begins to question her sanity as she is repeatedly met with terrifying, life-threatening events. She attempts to determine who wants her dead - only to realize that the list seems endless, as well as the reasons. Trusting the family’s lifelong servants to stand by her, she is shocked to find she is all alone in the hideously decaying mansion, in the middle of nowhere, fending for herself. Madison’s childhood home once again becomes a house of horrors 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. A charming fable about modern life that has touched the hearts of more than two million readers worldwide. Following on the success of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and already a worldwide sensation, Hector and the Search for Happiness finally comes to America, where readers will delight in its uplifting humor. As Hector travels from Paris to China to the United States, he keeps a list of observations about the people he meets, hoping to find the secret to happiness. 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 powerful in its insight and reassuring in its simplicity Hector is an excellent psychiatrist. He's very good at treating patients who are ill, but more and more; his patients are people he can't treat. They have no serious problems -- they're simply deeply dissatisfied with their lives. Hector can't do much for these people, and it's beginning to depress him. So when a patient tells him he looks in need of a holiday, Hector decides to set off on a trip around the world to try to find the key to happiness. Along the way, Hector keeps a list of observations about the people he meets and learns a great deal about what true contentment is all about. His journey into the soul is entertaining, empowering and often funny -- as winning in its optimism as it is powerful in its simplicity. Lehrer, Jim: Top Down: Overview In a riveting novel rooted in one of American history’s great “what ifs,” Jim Lehrer tells the story of two men haunted by the events leading up to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. November 22, 1963. As Air Force One touches down in Dallas, ambitious young newspaper reporter Jack Gilmore races to get the scoop on preparations for President Kennedy’s motorcade. Will the bubble top on the presidential limousine be up or down? Down, according to veteran Secret Service agent Van Walters. The decision to leave the top down and expose JFK to fire from above will weigh on Van’s conscience for decades. But will it also change the course of history? Conklin, Tara: The House Girl: Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: she must find the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves Waldman, Amy: The Submission: Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermath A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner’s name—and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam. Their conflicted response is only a preamble to the country’s Baker, Jo: Longbourn: In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended Buck, Pearl S.: The Eternal Wonder: The Eternal Wonder tells the coming-of-age story of Randolph Colfax (Rann for short), an extraordinarily gifted young man whose search for meaning and purpose leads him to New York, England, Paris, a mission patrolling the DMZ in Korea that will change his life forever—and, ultimately, to love