How can a simple magazine quiz change your life? Maggie Selgrin knows. At a glance, the 32-year-old seems perfectly happy. She is the middle child in a loving family, she enjoys her job as a mammography technician and has just moved into her dream apartment. She even gets along with her new roommate Rebecca, whose job consists of devising magazine quizzes.

When Rebecca asks Maggie to take a quiz that predicts life span, things suddenly look dire. According to the results, Maggie is doomed to die in three months — just before her 33rd birthday — unless she can honestly change her answer to the question "Are you happy?"

In her search for happiness, Maggie becomes involved with three eligible suitors and makes a high risk move that will ultimately extend her life span. Originally broadcast on CBC Radio's Between the Covers in winter 2006, the release of this BTC Audiobooks recording coincides with the publication of the paperback edition as a Harper CollinsPerenial.

Combining a spirited fairy tale plot with an eloquent mediation on the nature of happiness, The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini is a luminous first novel by the daughter of the late Carol Shields. Written during her mother's final struggle with breast cancer, The Sad Truth About Happiness shares much in common with Shields's haunting last novel, Unless. Giardini was a columnist for the National Post for three years and is the author or numerous essays, stories and articles. She is one of five children, and lives in Vancouver.

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