1. At one point in the novel, Michael tells Sally that happiness is "this moment." What is T.J.'s definition of happiness? What is Lucas's definition? Do you have a personal definition of happiness?

2. Grunwald uses beach glass as a metaphor to describe Sally's own definition of happiness. What is the difference between Sally's beach glass and Michael's "this moment"?

3. What is this book trying to say about happiness?

4. What, if anything, does Sally gain from her affair with Lucas? Why does she pursue him-or allow herself to be pursued-in the first place?

5. One of the quotes in the book is from Victor Hugo, who said, "The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved." Does this maxim hold true in the novel? Do you believe that being loved is a requirement for happiness?

6. What is the importance of the death of Sally's father to the rest of the story? What is the connection between loss and happiness, in the book, and in life?

7. Sally's two children are very different from one another, in terms of how outwardly happy they seem. Are some people are born happy and others born unhappy? Do you think there is, as in dieting, a happiness "set point," a basic level of happiness or unhappiness to which individuals gravitate?

8. Do you think that the book has a happy ending?

9. Do you think of happiness as a luxury? Do you think of it as a right? Is our culture too obsessed with the idea of happiness?

10. When you hear the word "happiness," what is the first thing that comes to mind?