Maggie, the biddable middle child of three sisters, abandons her conventional existence as a radiation technician after a magazine longevity quiz score predicts she has only three months to live. The critical question affecting the life-expectancy outcome is: "Are you happy?" Now, at age 32, she examines the concept of happiness as an absolute state of being and most frequently the concern of others, not her own. The unexpected arrival of her unmarried sister's married Italian lover intent on claiming custody of Lucy's newborn son spurs Maggie into a precipitous act of kidnapping the infant and disappearing to an isolated village. Serving a three-month house arrest sentence, she realizes happiness is not a constant but "more ephemeral than thought." Richly reflective, this debut novel by the daughter of Carol Shields explores Maggie's world as she seeks the solution to that unanswerable question of what or how happiness is defined and achieved in one's lifetime.

I really like this book until the Italian father showed up. Then I put down the book and refused to pick it back up. The plot I felt went wacky.

Sending off to another bookcrosser

Thank you! I appreciate the book. Sorry it took me so long to journal it. I started reading it right away and forgot to mention that I had gotten it. Unfortunately I just could not get into it. I tried and tried, but I did not like the writing style. I enjoyed the dialouge, but there just wasn't enough of it to offset the very long, descriptive sentences in the rest of the story. Thank you for sharing, though. I will pass this along to someone who may be able to get into this book.

I am sending this book along to my Trading Pages partner for this month. I hope she enjoys it!

Got it in the mail a few days ago, not yet read, just wanted to document my find. I have a big stack of library books to go through first. :)