Hector, a slightly disillusioned psychiatrist who was constantly hesitating between his love for Clara and his fondness for exoticism in the form of beautiful Oriental women, finally seems to have found happiness — as well as the secret of love. Everything is going smoothly, when all around him people start asking questions and raising issues. Some women, seeing the passing of time, worry because they haven’t had a child yet; others say that, at their age, it’s already too late for them. Some children are impatient and want to grow up faster. Then there are those men and women who have regrets, feel nostalgic or frustrated, or are concerned because they no longer feel nonchalant and light-hearted. Is time, then, the problem? Time that goes by either too quickly or not quickly enough.
So Hector decides to go away, travelling far to the North, to meet with a friend in the land of the Inuits — for travel is a part of education, especially for psychiatrists, particularly when the journey turns into a burlesque comedy, and most particularly when the psychiatrist in question chances to meet a certain beautiful Chinese lady and a certain aged monk.
Following a novel about happiness and wisdom told in the form of a rebus, and then a love story written in the manner of a spy novel, François Lelord continues the saga of Hector’s amusing quest for Life’s Great Secrets. As usual, Lelord’s style is gently ironic and entertaining.

A psychiatrist and the author of such popular books as Les Contes d’un psychiatre ordinaire (1993) and Comment gérer les personnalités difficiles (1996), François Lelord is now a full-time writer. Following the international success of his novel Le Voyage d’Hector in 2002, he has continued writing about the psychological-burlesque adventures of his hero, Hector.
In addition, he is the author of Hector et le secret de l’amour (2005) and La Force des émotions (2001).