Sunday Times
‘Dystopian fable punctuated by comedy so dark it practically disappears into the shadows … brilliantly unforgiving’
The Times
‘A gleeful nightmare, it made me snort with laughter even as I was shuddering’
SARAH WATERS, Guardian
‘Brilliant satire … frankly terrifying’
SARAH CHURCHWELL, Guardian
‘Searing … establishes her firmly as the Cassandra of American letters … I don’t remember the last time a novel held me so enduringly in its grip’
New York Times
‘The energy of Shriver’s style counteracts the remorselessness of her vision’
JANE SMILEY, Guardian
TO BRADFORD HALL WILLIAMS.
Although you had little time for fiction,
you’d have liked this book.
Who would have imagined that a cantankerous
misanthrope would be so fiercely missed?
Collapse is a sudden, involuntary and chaotic form of simplification.
—James Rickards, Currency Wars
Contents
Praise for The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047
Chapter Three: Waiting for the Dough
Chapter Four: Good Evening, Fellow Americans
Chapter Five: The Chattering Classes
Chapter Six: Search and Seizure
Chapter Seven: The Warrior Queen Arrives in Carroll Gardens
Chapter Eight: The Joys of Being Indispensable
Chapter Ten: Setbacks Never Bring Out the Best in People
Chapter Eleven: Badder Bitter Gutter
Chapter Twelve: Agency, Reward, and Sacrifice
Chapter Thirteen: Karmic Clumping II
Chapter Fourteen: A Complex System Enters Disequilibrium
Chapter One: Getting with the Program
Chapter Two: So Tonight We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 2047
Chapter Three: Return of the Somethingness: Shooting Somebody, Going Somewhere Else, or Both
Chapter Four: Singin’ This’ll Be the Day That I Die
Chapter Five: Who Wants to Live in a Utopia Anyway
Don’t use clean water to wash your hands!”
Intended
