You Should Smile More

Anastasia Ryan’s debut novel sets up a workplace comedy with real teeth. Four women who barely know each other end up in the women’s restroom together, complaining, and discover that all of them have been systematically underpaid relative to the men in equivalent roles. The rest of the book is what they decide to do about it.

Ryan worked in corporate America for years, and the office detail rings true in a way that workplace fiction often misses. The petty politics, the meeting culture, the way HR talks about everything except what matters.

The four leads each get distinct voices. The friendship that grows between them carries the book.

For readers who liked Helen Hoang’s office romances but want more bite, or who enjoyed Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s domestic novels, this is in adjacent territory. Funnier than The Devil Wears Prada, more grounded than 9 to 5.