Florent-Claude Labrouste is dying of sadness. Despised by his girlfriend and on the brink of career failure, his last hope for relief comes in the form of a newly available antidepressant that alters the brain's release of serotonin. This is a devastating story of solitude, longing and suffering by one of the most provocative writers of our age. Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020.