Fallow

What a joy Kiley Reid

'A spectacular debut: hilarious, sly, sharp, and extraordinarily thoughtful Lauren Groff

Meet Natalie: she hates work, but turns out she s great at labour

Natalie has no skills or ambitions. The clock ticks away at the call centre where she works, while she tries to ignore the pain in her jaw. She has no dental insurance.

Then, a mysterious flyer leads her to The Company. Natalie turns out to be the perfect candidate for their in-house surrogacy program. The job: deliver seven healthy babies in ten years.

Suddenly, her every need is met. And during what Natalie comes to call her fallow periods, she enjoys uncomplicated hedonism. For the first time in her life, she is good at her job; for the first time, she feels free.

But as Natalie nears the end of her contract, she meets Jackie, who isn t like the other mothers. And soon Natalie finds herself in another kind of social experiment altogether.

'A very funny book about work and ambition Rumaan Alam

'A kind of gonzo Handmaid s Tale Peter Ho Davies