Sebastian Faulks’s new novel poses questions about the meaning of humanity and the significance of difference. Set in the near future – the action starts in 2030 – it centres around Talissa, a clever postgrad anthropologist from New York, who offers to become a surrogate mother to strangers in order to earn money to continue studying the recent past. It’s just a temporary use of her womb, she argues. But, as she soon finds out, even if everything had gone to plan, body parts can’t often be loaned without emotional attachments. And things don’t go to plan, because Lukas Parn, the billionaire owner of the foundation that carries out the embryo transfer, has ulterior motives.
Faulks ingeniously conjures up a world only slightly different to ours. Electronic chips embedded in citizens’ wrists pay for public transport and services.
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