Why are we so drawn to the 'French' way of life? How can we master the mythical joie de vivre—the distinctively French ability to savor the moment? Journalist, writer, and comedian Viv Groskop has been asking these questions since childhood. Every summer, she traveled to France, diligently studying the language and dreaming of absorbing at least a little of 'Frenchness,' becoming a little closer to Françoise Sagan—freer and bolder. Viv gradually discovered other authors who captured the essence of French culture and mentality.

Like Groskop's previous book, 'Self-Development According to Tolstoy,' 'Goodbye, Sadness!' helps us rethink classics and find something new and relevant in them. But behind the funny and witty façade lie lessons in nostalgia from Proust, altruism from Hugo, psychology from Stendhal, and even a lesson in the love of mustaches from Maupassant.