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Red Clocks

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Red Clocks

By: Leni Zumas
Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Erin Bennett
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About this listen

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INAUGURAL ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION

‘Intense, beautifully crafted . . . Her talent is electric. Get ready for a shock’ Guardian

This is a work of fiction. Keep telling yourself that.

America has changed. For women, it has changed for the worse.

Ro, a single high-school teacher, is desperate to become a mother. But with IVF now illegal – along with abortion and other reproductive rights – parenthood looks increasingly unlikely for her. Her best friend Susan is trapped in a failing marriage with two children, her star student Mattie is unwillingly pregnant and Gin, an outcast offering other women natural remedies, has become the centre of a modern-day witch-hunt.

With warmth, wit and ferocious inventiveness, Red Clocks shows us an all-too plausible near-future: like The Handmaid’s Tale, it is a call to arms, set to become a modern classic.

Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Small Town & Rural Women's Fiction Fantasy

Critic reviews

‘Intense, beautifully crafted…Her talent is electric. Get ready for a shock’ Guardian

‘Timing is everything – and the release of Red Clocks couldn’t be more apt’ Grazia

‘A fearless novel with a frightening premise that seems plausible. One for fans of Naomi Alderman’s The Power’ Stylist

‘Lyrical and beautifully observed … highly absorbing’ Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

‘Necessary and so of the moment … this is your go-to book in 2018’ Elle

‘Terrifyingly real’ The Pool

‘Vividly imagined’ Sunday Times

‘Sharp, bold, funny’ Esquire

‘Powerful, beautifully written (and, at times, wry and funny) … Red Clocks is set to become one of the essential reads for 2018’ Emerald Street

‘This provocative exploration of female longing, frustration and determination couldn’t be more timely, and yet there’s nothing fleeting about it … Zumas has written a novel that’s political without being doctrinaire, that expands the dimensions of our most pressing social debate’ Washington Post

‘The dystopian feminist novel for a new generation and a story that will rev you up to be part of the resistance’ Refinery29

‘In bristling sentences that strike with stunning efficiency, Leni Zumas shows girls and women defying the excruciating restrictions imposed by both law and culture. This is not only timely but necessary fiction—uncannily prescient, unabashedly political, and fiercely humane. We so desperately need books like this’ Emily Fridlund, author of History of Wolves

‘Hilarious, terrifying, and masterful–this pitch-perfect, timely novel reflects the horror and absurdity of our political landscape with a brilliance that ensures the book's timelessness. It's as riotously fun as it is chilling. Zumas has produced a poignant, wickedly sharp classic’ Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa

All stars
Most relevant
💛 This is dreamy and beautiful yet somehow also funny and snarky. Zumas’s writing is a character in itself; playfully poetic and full of unusual metaphors.

❤️️ The five women (one a girl) we follow each face different challenges as a result of living in an America where abortion is illegal. Because this is a dystopia. It is speculative. It couldn’t possibly hap… Forget I said anything.

💚 Some characters are likable, some I loved to hate, but they were all fascinating and believable. And the plot is one of those where all comes full circle in a smart, satisfying way.

PS I hope my zombie books don’t start hopping on the life imitating art bandwagon…
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 The performances are purposefully dreamy and pensive. For the more serious parts, this matches the tone of the book. And it’s pointedly incongruous with the comic aspects, somehow making them funner. Loved these narrators,

🎧 You need to focus on this to get the nuances of the story, Having said that, I felt lost at times, but managed to get back on track without needing to go back and relisten.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...

This reminds me in so many ways of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. That's post apocalyptic to this (ahem) dystopia, but both are written in a poetic prose.

Dystopia Turned Reality

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This book was written while Roe V Wade was still there and is an imagining of an America where it had been overturned. In light of recent and developing events it is even more chilling to listen to.

Dystopian, couldn’t stop listening.

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Excellent narrator and a wonderfully complex novel. Very well realised characters and challenges. A scarily prophetic premise in light of 2018 US political discourse.

harrowing prescient dystopia

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A story that sounds too similar to current issues in many countries. The story itself is good. I wish it went a little deeper into the griminess and darkness of the issues. Overall it was good, narrators did a good job as well.

Red clocks

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