Generosity

'Thrilling ... such wonderful storytelling' Observer'Powers' acuity and satire are as sharp as ever' Sunday Times'Smart, tender and wrenchingly anxious about the approaching era ... A bracingly intelligent fable about the choices that face us' Sunday TelegraphWhen Chicagoan Russell Stone begins teaching a Creative Nonfiction class, he meets Thassadit Amzwar, a young Algerian woman with a radiant presence. But he is disturbed by her how can someone from a country ravaged by conflict be so happy?Puzzling the melancholic Russell, Thassa s happiness prompts him to research her war-torn country and theories on happiness. His amateur inquiries lead him to college counselor Candace Weld, who also falls under Thassa s spell. Dubbed Miss Generosity by classmates, Thassa s joy catches the eye of notorious geneticist and advocate for genomic enhancement Thomas Kurton who claims to have found the genotype for happiness. Yet, as media frenzy builds, Thassa s optimism is tested.Richard Powers Generosity explores the implications of a genetic basis for happiness, asking who would control it, and how would it reshape humanity.