Maria Semple

And so I changed her name, I changed her city, I changed her attitude, and then the book just kind of broke open for me that this was this woman who had kind of figured out

crack the code to happiness.

Yes, and it was actually really hard to do that.

Again, for a long time, I think in the early stages of the book that weren't working out, I really felt like I had to explain what it was, and it just was kind of dreary, and that's not why you read a novel, to have someone explain philosophy to you.

That's right.

That's right.

Okay, so Adora is a single, divorced woman, the mother of a teenage daughter who lives in New York City.

Okay, so far, you.

Exactly, so far, me.

And she is a philosopher, and her job is to teach ethics to these tween...

twin boys of a old money New York family.

Right.

And she's figured out that the way to be happy is to rid herself of all desire, that desire is the source of suffering, which is a stoic thing.

It's a Buddhist thing.

It's something that, you know, you hear about a lot.

And so when we first meet Adora, she's really living

living the philosophy quite swimmingly you know of this quote from she's he who wants nothing is the richest man in the world i said paraphrasing seneca the less you want the happier you'll be exactly she's living out that philosophy she really is and so she's very contented with her life and it's all going quite well until she meets a handsome stranger at the ballet the

And then she maybe realizes that the desire has not entirely been snuffed out inside of her.

Well, thank you.

You know, that's a huge compliment.