The Power

Naomi Alderman

Oct 2017 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this eBook

In this stunning bestseller praised as "our era's Handmaid's Tale," a fierce new power has emerged—and only women have it (Washington Post). 

In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family.

But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets. From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, The Power is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways.

"Captivating, fierce, and unsettling...I was riveted by every page. Alderman's prose is immersive and, well, electric." —New York Times Book Review

Ratings and reviews

I fell hard for this book in the first few chapters, but was disappointed in the end. The descriptions of such sudden onset of power was so intense and it really touched me. But in the end the characters felt a little flat, the gender binaries feel weirdly strict, and the messages felt jumbled-- I was constantly frustrated with character choices and the message it seems to end on is All Power Corrupts, which just falls flat to me.

An interesting concept, what if women were suddenly given tremendous power, how would they use it? Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Does a person's sense of morality lessen as his or her power increases, or would women as a whole become corrupted? This book flips the script in an entertaining way, although it does drag a bit at times.

Disappointing book. reads like a SJW manual for feminazi's

About the author

Naomi Alderman is the recipient of the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction for The Power. She is also the author of The Liars' Gospel and Disobedience, which won the Orange Prize for New Writers, has been published in ten languages, and has been made into a film by Rachel Weisz.

Alderman was selected for Granta's once-a-decade list of Best of Young British Novelists and was chosen by Margaret Atwood as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. She is the cocreator and lead writer of the bestselling smartphone audio adventure app Zombies, Run! She contributes regularly to The Guardian and presents Science Stories on BBC Radio 4. She lives in London.