The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047

‘Her verve and ambition are impressive … Few writers since William Gaddis in his brilliant JR have had the chutzpah to take on America’s particular money madness’

Mail on Sunday

‘A gripping family saga’

Daily Telegraph

‘By turns blackly funny and deeply unsettling’

Independent

‘Shriver writes with brio and intellectual zest. She is fiercely intelligent, but she has the qualities and virtues of the classical novelist. The ideas are fascinating, and the characters are thoroughly imagined and convincing … her gloomy vision is so brilliantly depicted that her novel is wonderfully enjoyable. If we are going to hell in a handcart, she makes the journey great fun’

Scotsman

‘Imaginative’

Sunday Times

‘Dystopian fable punctuated by comedy so dark it practically disappears into the shadows … brilliantly unforgiving’

The Times

‘A gleeful nightmare, it made me snort with laughter even as I was shuddering’

SARAH WATERS, Guardian

‘Brilliant satire … frankly terrifying’

SARAH CHURCHWELL, Guardian

‘Searing … establishes her firmly as the Cassandra of American letters … I don’t remember the last time a novel held me so enduringly in its grip’

New York Times

‘The energy of Shriver’s style counteracts the remorselessness of her vision’

JANE SMILEY, Guardian

Dedication (#ulink_32304f10-eb1c-58f2-8e8a-5fa815bd0ac8)

TO BRADFORD HALL WILLIAMS.

Although you had little time for fiction,

you’d have liked this book.

Who would have imagined that a cantankerous

misanthrope would be so fiercely missed?

Epigraph (#ulink_41442915-3e66-5066-aae3-12d32742a328)

Collapse is a sudden, involuntary and chaotic form of simplification.

—James Rickards, Currency Wars

Contents

Cover (#u3cb93340-c8fe-52d3-abdd-22d191cdced1)

Title Page (#uaf3477e7-6bdc-5de3-968c-8c5b45fb5f63)

Copyright (#uef9c94a9-d01d-5168-9081-d287ff73d40c)

Praise for The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 (#u3d42ce8a-e638-5b42-b27c-281f7f77ede0)

Dedication (#u28d4b230-0609-5713-8ccb-8959c700af8e)

Epigraph (#u2de10088-2491-5b61-8f25-6940b6ea7b14)

2029 (#u56804b5d-2de0-56f5-909f-3a057f16933e)

Chapter One: Gray Water (#u67951002-1c89-55c8-ada3-9b69c9054257)

Chapter Two: Karmic Clumping (#ud42bd519-0c84-5852-a881-9c4b604e2821)

Chapter Three: Waiting for the Dough (#udad593b2-b189-55fc-9782-fb8e3909e368)

Chapter Four: Good Evening, Fellow Americans (#u31501e9b-ad6b-5ba7-a00e-12c777598dc5)

Chapter Five: The Chattering Classes (#ud6595abc-8cae-5dfe-a3f5-3830084e4f14)

Chapter Six: Search and Seizure (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven: The Warrior Queen Arrives in Carroll Gardens (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight: The Joys of Being Indispensable (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine: Foul Matters (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten: Setbacks Never Bring Out the Best in People (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven: Badder Bitter Gutter (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve: Agency, Reward, and Sacrifice (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen: Karmic Clumping II (#litres_trial_promo)