The Happiness Bureau

(Original title: DAS GLUCKSBURO) Translated from the German by Rachel Hildebrandt .

Albert Happy is a strange fellow. He is just over fifty, a little dry, meticulous, and he works at the Agency for Administrative Affairs. Forms, stamps, and service regulations are the world in which he has established himself as an exemplary employee. Literally speaking, because Albert not only works in the agency, he also lives there. Unknown to any of his co-workers, he has set up a small room in the basement for himself and is happily devoted to the same day-to-day routine, lived out fully within the agency's four walls. But one day Albert's carefully arranged order hits a snag. On his desk, he discovers an application which should not really exist. Its officially designated number is not part of the bureaucratic system, and the applicant has not applied for anything specific. Albert does everything he can to get rid of this unfortunate request, but in vain. It reappears morning after morning on his desktop. And so he has no choice but to make his way out of the building, which he has not left in years, to locate the applicant. On his journey, Albert meets Anna Sugus, a pretty, wild artist who turns Albert's world upside down ...