Serotonin - Michel Houellebecq

Serotonin (2019), translated into English by Shaun Whiteside, follows Florent-Claude Labrouste, a disillusioned agricultural engineer despised by his girlfriend and facing the collapse of his career. His last hope lies in a newly available antidepressant that works by boosting serotonin levels, numbing him to pain but also to desire. Retreating to the Normandy countryside in search of peace, he instead finds a rural community abandoned by globalisation, where local farmers struggle against falling prices and European agricultural policy. Mixing dark humour, nostalgia and a scathing critique of contemporary Western society, Michel Houellebecq delivers one of his most melancholic and widely discussed novels, longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020. This Vintage paperback edition runs to 320 pages.