Discontent

By: Beatriz Serrano, Mara Faye Lethem - translator

Narrated by: Emer Kenny

Brought to you by Penguin.

Life can’t go on like this – can it?

An audacious, darkly funny, perfect summer read about a young woman in Madrid whose office persona threatens to crack when she’s forced to attend her company’s annual retreat

On the surface, Marisa’s life looks enviable. She lives in a nice apartment in the heart of Madrid, her friendly neighbour and lover Pablo lives downstairs, and she’s risen quickly through the ranks at a successful advertising agency.

And yet Marisa hates her job and everything about it. Over one hot summer she finds herself in danger of being exposed when she’s forced to deliver a talk on creativity at a horrendous team-building retreat. Surrounded by psychopathic bosses, flirty facilitators, and an excess of drugs, Marisa is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.

Discontent is a bold, biting novel about acting on our wilder impulses to reclaim our lives from work.

This book is for everyone who has ever wanted more: more time, more meaning, more connection.

'Serrano writes with a caustic flair for detail, with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant' Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution

‘I adored our heroine ... A razor-sharp debut’ Anna Dorn, author of Perfume and Pain

‘Intelligent, engaging ... totally hilarious’ Aysegül Savas, author of The Anthropologists

© Beatriz Serrano 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critic reviews

Tremendously entertaining... peppered with pithy insights into the modern workplace, and plenty of vivid characters

It’s hilarious – full of one liners and pithy observations. I rooted for Marisa from the start

A wild ride... even if you love your job, you're still guaranteed to find a bit of yourself in this book

Fun, caustic and mercilessly observed, Discontent announces an impressive new comic talent in European fiction

Marisa... has become an expert in the white-collar shell game of pantomiming busyness... Beneath the novel’s breezy Office Space-style nihilism, though, Serrano — via a seamless translation by Lethem — locates the profound loneliness of her protagonist, who seems to live almost entirely behind screens or via surface encounters. Discontent is one of this year’s loveliest small surprises: a melancholy and tartly funny little bonbon of a book with a (literal) knockout ending

The only thing impeding Marisa's pleasure is work... The author portrays Marisa’s disillusionment as being complex, and she is sensitive to her protagonist’s yearning for an alternative existence. While her hatred for working runs deep, it also heightens her appreciation of life’s pleasures

A wry work of spectacular wit, Discontent skewers every novel of workplace ennui that has come before it. Beatriz Serrano writes with a caustic flair for detail, exploring the small humiliations of the everyday corporate office with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant (Danya Kukafka, author of NOTES ON AN EXECUTION)

Our heroine compulsively watches YouTube, pops Ativan, quotes both Britney Spears and Proust, dreads work small talk, and, at one point, Googles 'how to be creative.' I adored her. Discontent is a razor-sharp debut with a riveting climax (Anna Dorn, author of PERFUME & PAIN)

This intelligent, engaging novel perfectly captures the discontent of our contemporary minds, managing all the while to be totally hilarious (Aysegül Savas, author of THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS)

Discontent is a love song to the listless and lonely of the LinkedIn age. Our heroine—the Xanax-popping, YouTube-abusing Marisa—is the picture of modern malaise. Sharp, sad, and sardonic, Serrano's prose is all the encouragement you need to quit that job you hate. (Ariel Courage, author of BAD NATURE)