The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047
เด เด-เดฌเตเดเตเดเดฟเดจเตเดเตเดเตเดฑเดฟเดเตเดเต
In 2029, the United States is engaged in a bloodless world war that will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Overnight, on the international currency exchange, the โalmighty dollarโ plummets in value, to be replaced by a new global currency, the โbancor.โ In retaliation, the president declares that America will default on its loans. โDeadbeat Nationโ being unable to borrow, the government prints money to cover its bills. What little remains to savers is rapidly eaten away by runaway inflation.
The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their ninety-seven-year-old patriarch dies. Once the inheritance turns to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment, but alsoโas the U.S. economy spirals into dysfunctionโthe challenge of sheer survival.
Recently affluent, Avery is petulant that she canโt buy olive oil, while her sister, Florence, absorbs strays into her cramped household. An expat author, their aunt, Nollie, returns from abroad at seventy-three to a country thatโs unrecognizable. Her brother, Carter, fumes at caring for their demented stepmother, now that an assisted living facility isnโt affordable. Only Florenceโs oddball teenage son, Willing, an economics autodidact, will save this formerly august American family from the streets.
The Mandibles is about money. Thus it is necessarily about bitterness, rivalry, and selfishnessโbut also about surreal generosity, sacrifice, and transformative adaptation to changing circumstances.
เดฑเตเดฑเตเดฑเดฟเดเดเตเดเดณเตเด เดฑเดฟเดตเตเดฏเตเดเดณเตเด
เดฐเดเดฏเดฟเดคเดพเดตเดฟเดจเต เดเตเดฑเดฟเดเตเดเต
Although Lionel Shriver has published many novels, a collection of essays, and a column in the Spectator since 2017, and her journalism has been featured in publications including the Guardian, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, she in no way wishes for the inclusion of this information to imply that she is more โintelligentโ or โaccomplishedโ than anyone else. The outdated meritocracy of intellectual achievement has made her a bestselling author multiple times and accorded her awards, including the Orange Prize, but she accepts that all of these accidental accolades are basically meaningless. She lives in Portugal and Brooklyn, New York.
