Femlandia
Christina Dalcher
Berkley Books
In the near future the American economy crashes, leading to massive unrest and the breakdown of society. Anarchy rules, and what’s left of government retreats to underground fortresses to wait for better times. For the ordinary people like 40 year-old Miranda Reynolds and her 16 year-old daughter Emma, the good times are gone, probably for good. Miranda’s husband killed himself at the beginning of the collapse, leaving them destitute. With violence on the streets and no means of supporting themselves, the pair take a long and dangerous road in search of the one place Miranda swore never to go near—her estranged mother’s feminist enclave of Femlandia.
… a dark, plausible and powerful tale of humanity gone wrong.
One of several dotted across the continent, the enclave established by Miranda’s mother Win and her companion Jen is a well-run off the grid commune entirely populated by women. Miranda and Emma are given a guarded welcome, and it’s clear from the start there’ll be no favors given to them just because of who they are. The safe, peaceful, almost Utopic lives lived behind the barriers promise much, but Miranda senses there’s something rotten at the heart of the feminist paradise. The pregnant women there give birth only to female babies. Has the man-hating Win gone too far? As Miranda digs deeper her discoveries come at a price for her and Emma, but is it one worth paying?
Femlandia is a dark, plausible and powerful tale of humanity gone wrong. Dalcher has created a novel that resonates strongly with the times we live in.
