When Chicagoan Russell Stone finds himself teaching a Creative Nonfiction class he encounters a young Algerian woman with a disturbingly luminous presence. Thas... » 

When Chicagoan Russell Stone finds himself teaching a Creative Nonfiction class he encounters a young Algerian woman with a disturbingly luminous presence. Thassadit Amzwars blissful exuberance both entrances and puzzles the melancholic Russell. How can this refugee from perpetual terror be so happy? Wont someone so open and alive come to serious harm? Wondering how to protect her Russell researches her wartorn country and skims through popular happiness manuals. Might her condition be hyperthymia? Hypomania? Russells amateur inquiries lead him to college counselor Candace Weld who also falls under Thassas spell. Dubbed Miss Generosity by her classmates Thassas joyful personality comes to the attention of the notorious geneticist and advocate for genomic enhancement Thomas Kurton whose research leads him to announce the genotype for happiness. Russell and Candace now lovers fail to protect Thassa from the growing media circus. Thassas congenital optimism is soon severely tested. Devoured by the public as a living prophecy her genetic secret will transform both Russell and Kurton as well as the country at large. «