Start your year with some feminist sci-fi
Get inspired this year with one of these kick-ass book recommendations from our digital marketing manager, Lian Hingee.
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Naomi Alderman’s brilliant novel about the corrosive nature of power took home the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Set in a not-too-distant future where young women have evolved the ability generate and conduct electricity through their fingertips, The Power is full of observations on gender politics, power, religion and violence.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s classic book was originally published in 1985 in the wake of the election of President Reagan and the rise of the religious right in the United States. Is it any wonder that this powerful novel is enjoying a resurgence in our post-Trump world where women once again have to fight for the right to control their own bodies, careers and destinies?
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Future Home of the Living God is the new book from the award-winning author Louise Erdrich. Erdrich began writing her dystopian novel in 2002 after George W. Bush reinstated the ‘global gag rule’ banning funding to health-care organisations that offered abortions or abortion counselling. In 2016, with women’s reproductive rights back in the firing line, Erdich decided it was time to revisit her manuscript about a pregnant woman who is alone in a world that is somehow devolving. This is a fascinating – if terrifying – read.
The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo (translated by Lola Rogers)
Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo’s novel imagines a world where women are strictly segregated into two different roles: the vapid eloi, who are bred for pleasure and procreation; and the headstrong morlocks, who are sterilised and used for menial labour. In her search for her missing sister, Vanna – a morlock, but ‘pretty’ enough to pass for an eloi – becomes involved with a hot pepper-worshipping cult, The Core of the Sun. This weird and wonderful novel was dreamed up by the same brain that wrote Iron Sky (Nazis on the moon).
The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch
The Book of Joan offers a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc. Set in 2049, Earth is almost uninhabitable, and we have been forced to evacuate to CIEL, a gigantic space station under the control of the bloodthirsty Jean de Men. A group of revolutionaries are determined to overthrow his dictatorship both of CIEL and on the remains of the planet by rallying behind the child-rebel, Joan.
Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
In Gather the Daughters, 17-year-old Janey has been starving herself in an attempt to postpone Fruition, when she will officially be considered a woman and will be forced into marriage and childbearing. Janey lives in a patriarchal island community where traditional gender roles are strictly enforced, and women are viewed as little more than a man’s property to be used and discarded as needed. Over the course of one wild summer Janey and the other girls who live on the island begin to question the world in which they live.
Amatka by Karin Tidbeck
Karin Tidbeck’s bizarre and wonderful book Amatka started out as a amalgamation of poems, then a dream journal, and a collection of flash fiction, before the narrative resolved into a long-form novel. These strange beginnings are apt for a story about a world where reality itself is shaped by language. Researcher Vanja travels to the remote colony of Amatka where everything must be named, out loud, on a regular basis or it will dissolve into ‘gloop’. In a world where survival is totally dependent on an increasingly spread-thin community, Vanja’s reluctance to procreate isn’t just a failure, but a threat to the very fabric of society.
