In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal
in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood
Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every
embryo.
Five women. One question. What is a woman for?
In a small Oregon fishing town, five very different women navigate these
new barriers alongside age-old questions surrounding motherhood,
identity, and freedom. Ro, a single high-school teacher, is trying to
have a baby on her own, while also writing a biography of Eivv?r, a
little-known 19th-century female polar explorer.
Susan is a frustrated mother of two, trapped in a crumbling marriage.
Mattie is the adopted daughter of doting parents and one of Ro's best
students, who finds herself pregnant with nowhere to turn. And Gin is
the gifted, forest-dwelling herbalist, or "mender," who brings all their
fates together when she's arrested and put on trial in a frenzied
modern-day witch hunt.
Red Clocks is at once a riveting drama, whose mysteries unfold with
magnetic energy, and a shattering novel of ideas. In the vein of
Margaret Atwood and Eileen Myles, Leni Zumas fearlessly explores the
contours of female experience, evoking The Handmaid's Tale for a new
millennium. This is a story of resilience, transformation, and hope in
tumultuous -- even frightening -- times.
