Follow Hector on his next journey
Praise for François Lelord
‘Even the most aloof, the most detached reader will be won over by this book.’
Cosmopolitan
‘Intelligently naïve’
Marie Claire
‘François Lelord favours an unashamedly simple style with short sentences and a naïve tone that soothe the reader like a summer breeze. Behind this, however, lie life’s great philosophical questions.’
Bücher
‘What extraordinary reading this novel makes: even the wickedest natures, the most cynical souls soften when confronted with the unaffected naïveté, with which Hector … presents to the reader a reflective and thought-provoking world view.’
Amazon customer
‘The long-standing tradition of lyrical and meaningful didactic literature from France is charmingly kept alive by this novel.’
Amazon customer
‘In four wonderful hours of reading and 23 lessons, this novel enriches the soul.’
Prinz
‘Hector is a lovable character; put simply, one of us.’
Rheinische Post
‘Hector and the Search for Happiness is a wonderful book for anyone who loved Saint Exupéry’s Little Prince or ever lost themselves in Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World.’
Ostsee Zeitung
‘Immerse yourself in a book that will give you wings: Hector and the Search for Happiness.’
Bild
‘At the end of the book readers find themselves with a head full of amusing scenes and clever insights into what happiness really means. It is in this way that Lelord manages to reach the hearts of his readers.’
Amazon customer
Hector and the
Search for Happiness
François Lelord
Translated by Lorenza Garcia
Contents
Praise Title Page HECTOR IS DISSATISFIED HECTOR HAS DOUBTS HECTOR MAKES AN IMPORTANTDISCOVERY HECTOR GOES TO CHINA HECTOR ENJOYS A GOOD DINNER HECTOR COMES CLOSE TO HAPPINESS HECTOR IS UNHAPPY HECTOR COMES CLOSE TO WISDOM HECTOR MAKES ADISCOVERY HECTOR ISN’T IN LOVE HECTOR FEELS SAD HECTOR MEETS UP WITH A GOOD FRIEND HECTOR DOES A GOOD TURN HECTOR TAKES LESSONS IN UNHAPPINESS HECTOR LEARNS ANOTHER LESSON HECTOR LEARNS WHY CHILDREN SMILE HECTOR’s LIFE IS NO LONGER PEACEFUL HECTOR CONTEMPLATESHIS OWN DEATH HECTOR IS SMART HECTOR CELEBRATES HECTOR GAINS PERSPECTIVE HECTOR DOES A BIT OF HISTORYAND GEOGRAPHY HECTOR HAS A DREAM HECTOR GOES TO THE BEACH AND DOES SOME MATHS HECTOR LEARNS ABOUTFAMILY LIFE HECTOR LEARNS THAT HE ISNOT TOTALLY STUPID HECTOR LEARNS HOW TOMEASURE HAPPINESS HECTOR DOESN ’T GOTO MARS HECTOR WITNESSES AN EXPERIMENT HECTOR RETRACES HISSTEPS HECTOR INVENTS THE GAME OF THE FIVE FAMILIES HECTOR’s JOURNEY IS AGREAT SUCCESS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Francois Lelord on Hector and the Search for Happiness HECTOR AND THE CHINESEPICTURE HECTOR LOVES CLARA Hector and the Search for Happiness Copyright
ONCE upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself.
Hector was not very satisfied with himself, even though he looked just like a real psychiatrist: he wore little round glasses that made him look intellectual; he knew how to listen to people sympathetically, saying ‘mmm’; he even had a little moustache, which he twirled when he was thinking very hard.
His consulting room also looked just like a real psychiatrist’s. There was an old couch (a present from his mother when he moved in), copies of Egyptian and Hindu statuettes, and a large bookcase full of complicated books, some of them so complicated he had not even read them.
Many people wanted to make an appointment with Hector, not just because he looked like a real psychiatrist, but because he had a gift that all good doctors have and that you can’t simply learn at college: he really was interested in people.
The first time people go to a psychiatrist, they’re often a bit embarrassed. They worry the psychiatrist will think they’re mad even though they know he’s used to it. Or else they worry that he won’t think their case is serious enough and will tell them to take their troubles elsewhere. But since they’ve made the appointment and kept it, they decide to recount their odd little quirks, the strange thoughts they haven’t told anyone about before but that make them unhappy, the great fears or deep sorrows that prevent them from living life to the full. They also worry that they won’t express themselves properly and that they will be boring.