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Reading lists

What to read after The Handmaid’s Tale

(and other lessons from history about living through an information crisis)

Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today

'‘Exactly the book you need right now’ Stylist 
 
'You know how the best writers pinpoint something you’ve felt for ages but haven’t been able to articulate? This is like that. It’s so good. She should give Radio 4’s next Reith Lectures' Guardian 
 
An electrifying, thought-provoking exploration of how the digital era is reshaping our world, by bestselling, Women's Prize-winning writer Naomi Alderman 
 
From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Power 
 
What’s the most useful thing you could know about your own life? 
 
In this era-defining book, developed from her groundbreaking Radio 4 essay series, Naomi Alderman turns to a question that affects us all: how do we understand, and navigate, the epoch we’re living through? 
 
The internet has flooded us with more knowledge, opinions, ideas, opportunities, as well as verbal attacks and misinformation, than ever before. It lets us learn more quickly and also spread falsehood more quickly, it brings us together and also divides us in countless new ways. There is no going back. But we have been here before. In fact, this is humanity’s third information crisis. 
 
The first, the invention of writing 5,000 years ago, and the second, the invention of the printing press 600 years ago, drastically reshaped our perceptions, interactions and mental landscapes in ways that feel acutely familiar. Overwhelmed by information, people become afraid and angry, unsettled and distressed, as well as more knowledgeable, educated and curious. 
 
By looking at those previous information crises, both the turmoil and the advances, Alderman asks what we can learn from the past to better understand our present, and how this might help us chart a way forward (once again), through the turbulent seas of information overload. 
 
'Alderman is one of our most surprising and delightful public intellectuals, and this book grapples wonderfully with our current schisms and their historical precedents' JON RONSON

I love Naomi Alderman's writing: its warmth and intelligence. On every page she makes you think, think again and think better. Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today is her mini masterpiece

Naomi Alderman is one of our most surprising and delightful public intellectuals, and this book grapples wonderfully with our current schisms and their historical precedents

How fortunate we are to have Naomi Alderman as our companion in these confusing, challenging and dangerous times. Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today is a serious — and also very funny — history of how we got to this point in the information revolution and a wise guide to navigating our way through it. Essential reading for the 21st century

Brisk, insightful, thought-provoking and powerfully empathetic: I started laughing and learning things on the first page and didn't stop until I hit the last one. Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today is the product of really deep thinking and a tremendously generous mind. It is the antidote to doom scrolling: a book that made me think in an entirely new way about the age we live in and which will make you excited about our era rather than merely terrified of it

The best book about the internet I've ever read. Changed how I think about human history, the people I fight with on social media AND my own relationship with my phone, which is quite a lot for 150 pages

You know how the best writers pinpoint something you’ve felt for ages but haven’t been able to articulate? This is like that. It’s so good. She should give Radio 4’s next Reith Lectures

It's a welcome appeal for nuance and thought in a world increasingly dominated by rapid responses, false assumptions and casual cruelties driven by fear. I loved it - it's wise and compassionate, acknowledging that humans change, and make mistakes, and sometimes even grow beyond them

A beautifully written book that alerts us to the necessity of thinking about how we read, what we read and why we read - it will sharpen your perceptions and attach you to the world beyond the word. Keep it by your nearest screen

Nobody who surveys today's toxic internet can doubt that something is badly wrong. But now those of us who want to come through the information crisis wiser, better, and more deeply connected to other human beings have a trusted guide we can rely on

Original, witty and profound – Naomi Alderman's broad historical perspective makes sense of our turbulent age with verve and wisdom

Naomi Alderman has done more than write a Protect and Survive manual for the toxic fallout of the social media age: this is a book that will help you to live, hopefully, in the one thing that none of us can escape - the historical moment

In Don’t Burn Anyone At The Stake Today, Naomi Alderman maps the torrid terrain of the digital age and its implications for humanity with tenderness and clarity . . . This is a book about how not to be engulfed by the inferno of our chaotic world, and how, instead, to light candles that guide us back to each other

The book every conversation should lead to because it explains everything

This is exactly the book you need right now

Naomi Alderman has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and another one in Classical Studies. Also an MA in Creative Writing and another MA in Classics. She's an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, TV producer and videogames creator. She has worked in technology startups for more than 20 years, since the time when people in tech still felt utopian about "making the world a better place". Which now makes her feel slightly embarrassed about her naivety. She is the author of the bestselling, multi-award-winning The Power, which was chosen as a book of the year by both Bill Gates and Barack Obama and became a TV series for Amazon Prime. Her other books include The Future, The Liars’ Gospel, The Lessons and Disobedience She is the co-creator of the fitness game and audio adventure Zombies, Run! which has more than ten million players. Naomi writes and presents Human Intelligence, a history of thinking on BBC Radio 4.

What’s the most useful thing you could know about your own life? 
 
In this era-defining book, developed from her groundbreaking Radio 4 essay series, Naomi Alderman turns to a question that affects us all: how do we understand, and navigate, the epoch we’re living through? 
 
The internet has flooded us with more knowledge, opinions, ideas, opportunities, as well as verbal attacks and misinformation, than ever before. It lets us learn more quickly and also spread falsehood more quickly, it brings us together and also divides us in countless new ways. There is no going back. But we have been here before. In fact, this is humanity’s third information crisis. 
 
The first, the invention of writing 5,000 years ago, and the second, the invention of the printing press 600 years ago, drastically reshaped our perceptions, interactions and mental landscapes in ways that feel acutely familiar. Overwhelmed by information, people become afraid and angry, unsettled and distressed, as well as more knowledgeable, educated and curious. 
 
By looking at those previous information crises, both the turmoil and the advances, Alderman asks what we can learn from the past to better understand our present, and how this might help us chart a way forward (once again), through the turbulent seas of information overload.

Abridged Edition

Penguin Readers Level 5: Doctor Who: Borrowed Time (ELT Graded Reader)

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. 
 
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. 
 
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. 
 
Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys. 
 
Andrew Brown works at a big international bank. He makes lots of money every day, but he never has enough time. Now, he might have found a way to borrow some. But, instead of making his life easier, more time might just give him more problems. Maybe the time-travelling Doctor can help!

With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
 
Doctor Who: Borrowed Time, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly. 
 
Andrew Brown works at a big international bank. He makes lots of money every day, but he never has enough time. Now, he might have found a way to borrow some. But, instead of making his life easier, more time might just give him more problems. Maybe the time-travelling Doctor can help!

Doctor Who: Thirteen Doctors 13 Stories

A collection of stories adapted for young readers taking them to the heart of the Whoniverse! Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi show in the world, and a flagship BBC property. First appearing on air in 1963, it follows the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord who travels through time and space, fighting alien monsters and saving the universe.

A new version of this much-loved anthology, with a brand-new story featuring the brand-new Thirteenth Doctor from literary sensation Naomi Alderman! 
 
Twelve wonderful tales of adventure, science, magic, monsters and time travel - featuring all twelve Doctors - are waiting for you in this very special Doctor Who book. 
 
And now they're joined by a very exciting, and very exclusive, new tale - written by Naomi Alderman, author of The Power - that will star the Thirteenth Doctor, as she battles to save the universe with her three close and trusted friends. 
 
Other authors featured are: Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott, Marcus Sedgwick, Philip Reeve, Patrick Ness, Richelle Mead, Malorie Blackman, Alex Scarrow, Charlie Higson, Derek Landy, Neil Gaiman, and Holly Black.

Naomi Alderman (Author) Naomi Alderman has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and another one in Classical Studies. Also an MA in Creative Writing and another MA in Classics. She's an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, TV producer and videogames creator. She has worked in technology startups for more than 20 years, since the time when people in tech still felt utopian about "making the world a better place". Which now makes her feel slightly embarrassed about her naivety. She is the author of the bestselling, multi-award-winning The Power, which was chosen as a book of the year by both Bill Gates and Barack Obama and became a TV series for Amazon Prime. Her other books include The Future, The Liars’ Gospel, The Lessons and Disobedience She is the co-creator of the fitness game and audio adventure Zombies, Run! which has more than ten million players. Naomi writes and presents Human Intelligence, a history of thinking on BBC Radio 4. Malorie Blackman (Author) Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the bestselling Noughts &amp; Crosses series, Pig-Heart Boy, Boys Don't Cry and Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of Pig-Heart Boy and a Pilot Theatre stage adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of Noughts &amp; Crosses. There is also a major BBC production of Noughts &amp; Crosses, with Roc Nation (Jay-Z's entertainment company) curating the soundtrack as executive music producer. In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children's books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children's literature, and between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children's Laureate. Malorie also co-wrote the Doctor Who episode Rosa. The sixth and final novel in her Noughts &amp; Crosses series, Endgame, was published by Penguin Random House Children's in Autumn 2021. Malorie’s autobiography Just Sayin’ was published by #MerkyBooks in summer 2023. In 2026 Malorie was made awarded a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the King's 2026 Birthday Honours, for services to literature. Holly Black (Author) Date: 2013-08-06 
Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children, including Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale and the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick series. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award and the Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. Holly lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library. Her website is www.blackholly.com. 
 
Holly Black is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy books, including the Novels of Elfhame, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Spiderwick Chronicles, her adult debut, Book of Night, as well as Arthuriana picture book called Sir Morien. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbury Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. She invited you to visit her online at blackholly.com. Neil Gaiman (Author) Neil Gaiman is the bestselling author of Coraline and Stardust, both of which are major motion films. Neil also co-wrote the script for Beowulf starring Anthony Hopkins and Angeline Jolie. He is the creator/writer of the award-winning Sandman comic series and has written several books for children. Charlie Higson (Author) Charlie Higson started writing when he was ten years old. After university he was a singer and painter and decorator before he started writing for television. He went on to create and star in the hugely successful comedy series The Fast Show. He is the author of the bestselling Young Bond books and the incredibly successful horror series, The Enemy. 
 
Charlie doesn't do Facebook, but you can tweet him @monstroso. Alex Scarrow (Author) Alex Scarrow used to be a rock guitarist, then he became a graphic artist, then he decided to be a computer games designer. Finally, he grew up and became an author. He has written a number of successful thrillers and several screenplays, but it's YA fiction that has allowed him to really have fun with the ideas and concepts he was playing around with designing games. Alex lives in Norwich. Richelle Mead (Author) Richelle Mead is the author of the international bestselling Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines series. A lifelong reader, Richelle has always had a particular fascination with mythology and folklore. When she can actually tear herself away from books (either reading or writing them), she enjoys bad reality TV, travelling, trying interesting cocktails and shopping for dresses to wear on tour. She is a self-professed coffee addict, works in her pajamas, and has a passion for all things wacky and humorous. Originally from Michigan, Richelle now lives in Seattle, Washington. Eoin Colfer (Author) Eoin Colfer is the megaselling author of the Artemis Fowl series, Half Moon Investigations, The Supernaturalist, Airman, The Legend of . . . books and, most recently, the WARP series. He lives with his family in Ireland. www.eoincolfer.com

The Lessons

FROM THE WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE POWER 
 
'A seductive homage to Donna Tartt and Brideshead Revisited' Metro 
 
James, always the outsider, enters Oxford - high seat of privilege, wealth and ambition. There he meets Mark Winters - dissolute, astonishingly, heartbreakingly rich, and pitilessly cruel - and the fellow students he has gathered around him: untouchable Emmanuella; on-again/off-again Simon and Franny; and passionate, true Jess. 
 
The nights - and many of the days - become one long party. Friendships are made, and broken. Lovers swapped, or dropped. It is all beguiling and bewitching. Everything James dreamed of but never quite believed in. 
 
But after university they are each cast out into an indifferent world. Free of Mark and his dark influence, they are lost to one another, until one night tragedy strikes . . . 
 
'Beautifully written, satisfyingly complex' New Statesman 
 
'A world as beautiful and sinister as any in a fairytale' Independent

A world as beautiful and sinister as any in a fairytale. A pleasure to read

A glittering style, a compulsive pleasure. A seductive homage to Donna Tartt and Brideshead Revisited

Remarkable. Alderman is a supremely talented writer

Naomi Alderman is the author of four novels. In 2006 she won the Orange Award for New Writers and in 2007 she was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, as well as being selected as one of Waterstones' 25 Writers for the Future. All of her novels have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. In 2013 she was selected for the prestigious Granta Best of Young British Writers. She lives in London.

In The Lessons a close-knit group of friends forms at Oxford around the mercurial, charismatic figure of Mark, whose rackety trust-fund upbringing has left him as troubled and dangerously unpredictable as he is wildly promiscuous. After graduation the group fragments, each locked in his or her own suddenly adult, pedestrian world. But Mark's influence is still strong...

The Liars' Gospel

From the Women's Prize-winning author of The Power and The Strangers 
 
'A visceral retelling of the events surrounding the life of Jesus' Hilary Mantel 
 
IT BEGINS AND ENDS WITH A SACRIFICE... 
 
It was a time of brutal tyranny and occupation. Young men and women took to the streets to protest. Dictators put them down with iron force. Rumours spread. Rebels attacked the greatest empire the world had ever known. The empire gathered its forces to make those rebels pay. 
 
And in the midst of all of that, one preacher by the name of Jesus died. And either something miraculous happened or someone lied. 
 
This is the truth according to The Liars' Gospel. 
 
'Daring and accomplished ... Paints the sweep of history through the sharp pain of human love and loss, and it is a remarkable achievement' Observer 
 
'Witty, dark and compelling' Charlotte Mendelson 
 
'Alderman is one of our most surprising and delightful public intellectuals' Jon Ronson

The dark wit that characterised her previous novels, Disobedience and The Lessons, runs through this book as an undercurrent, but The Liars' Gospel shows the hand of a mature novelist, a daring and accomplished work on a broad canvas. She is as much at home describing the sorrow of a mother as the cut and thrust of theological debate, as convincing on the weariness of a man forced into moral compromise as the rush of blood in a teenage boy caught up in his first riot. She paints the sweep of history through the sharp pain of human love and loss, and it is a remarkable achievement.

Exciting, entertaining and enthralling read - this is story telling of the very highest order. It's certainly one of my books of the year.

A series of thoughtful, humane sketches that seek to earnestly put the meat of character on the bones of the bible... An evocative, secular exploration of the New Testaments' sprawling horizons

Such intensity ... a big book about history and violence, you can feel the blood running off the page. It is also a very personal and human book

First piece I've read that puts you completely into the Jewish history. A fascinating new look

'The descriptions of violence are visceral. Parts could be describing contemporary Afghanistan with only a change of names... indisputably elegant.

Stunningly accomplished ... a novel of such intensity, meaning and depth that it must be destined to become a classic

Brilliantly evocative... Naomi Alderman has given us an entire Jewish gospel. Yehoshuah is a Jewish Jesus, the creation of a Jewish novelist; and yet it is the genius and the generosity of Alderman's novel, it seems to me, that it does not preclude an alternative perspective, one in which mystery does indeed haunt the events it describes.

This is the story of a Jewish man, Yehoshuah, who wandered Roman-occupied Judea giving sermons and healing the sick. Now, a year after his death, four people tell their stories. His mother flashes between grief and rage while trouble brews between her village and the occupying soldiers. Iehuda, who was once Yehoshuah's friend, recalls how he came to lose his faith and find a place among the Romans. Caiaphas, the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, tries to hold the peace between Rome and Judea. Bar-Avo, a rebel, strives to bring that peace tumbling down. 
 
This thrilling novel makes the oldest story entirely new. Viscerally powerful in its depictions of the realities of the period: massacres and riots, animal sacrifice and human betrayal, it finds echoes of the present in the past. It was a time of political power-play and brutal tyranny and occupation. Young men and women took to the streets to protest. Dictators put them down with iron force. Rumours spread from mouth to mouth. Rebels attacked the greatest Empire the world has ever known. The Empire gathered its forces to make those rebels pay. 
 
And in the midst of all of that, one inconsequential preacher died. And either something miraculous happened, or someone lied.

Disobedience

Winner of the Orange Prize for New Writers, this is an insightful and witty novel on the search for love, tolerance and faith.

FROM THE WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE POWER 
 
'Sharp, funny and poignant' Hilary Mantel 
 
Ronit has left London and transformed her life. She has become a cigarette-smoking, wise-cracking, New York career woman, who is in love with a married man. 
 
But then Ronit's father dies, and she is called back into the very different world of her childhood, a world she thought she had left far behind. The orthodox Jewish suburb of Hendon, north London, is outraged by Ronit and her provocative ways. Ronit, too, is shocked by the confrontation with her past. And when she meets up with her childhood girlfriend Esti, she is forced to think again about what she has left behind. 
 
'Funny, tender and insightful' Guardian 
 
'Rich, fresh, fascinating. A wonderful novel' Sunday Times 
 
'Alderman is one of our most surprising and delightful public intellectuals' Jon Ronson

A wonderful novel . . . rich and fresh and fascinating

By the age of 32, Ronit has left London and transformed her life. She has become a cigarette-smoking, wise-cracking, New York career woman, who is in love with a married man.But when Ronit’s father dies she is called back into the very different world of her childhood, a world she thought she had left far behind. The orthodox Jewish suburb of Hendon, north London is outraged by Ronit and her provocative ways. But Ronit is shocked too by the confrontation with her past. And when she meets up with her childhood girlfriend Esti, she is forced to think again about what she has left behind.

The Power

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES WITH PRIME VIDEO 
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 
 
'Electrifying' Margaret Atwood 
 
'A big, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller' Guardian 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
All over the world women are discovering they have the power. With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain - even death. Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they've lost control. 
 
The Day of the Girls has arrived - but where will it end? 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
'The Hunger Games crossed with The Handmaid's Tale' Cosmopolitan 
 
'I loved it; it was visceral, provocative and curiously pertinent . . . The story has stayed with me since' Stylist, The Decade's 15 Best Books by Remarkable Women 
 
'Superb. Insightful, thrilling, funny. Well-crafted, compelling, serious-minded' Daily Telegraph 
 
'Fascinating, ingenious, rattles with a furious pace. Deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man)' The Times 
 
'Chilling, thrilling, a blast' Financial Times 
 
'Irresistible. Holds a mirror up to the here and now' Mail on Sunday

A big, brash, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller

A fascinating look at what the world might be like if millennia of sexism went the other way. Ingenious . . . deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man)

It's magnificent. I'm agog. Really, I'm several gogs. So smart and scary and sad but true

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Handmaid's Tale for the Gone Girl generation

The Hunger Games crossed with The Handmaid's Tale

The Power is a subtly funny, lyrical and utterly subversive vision of an impossible future. As all the best visionaries do, Alderman shines a penetrating and yet merciful light on to our present and the so many cruelties in which we may be complicit

Electrifying! Shocking! Will knock your socks off! Then you'll think twice, about everything

The Power is a fascinating look at what the world might be like if millennia of sexism went the other way...as a whole the narrative feels ingenious...deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man)

A feminist science-fiction story that's about to make waves

If you enjoy Margaret Atwood's dystopian fiction, this strong, substantial novel is for you

Alderman is a fluent and powerful writer

When we say that The Power is profoundly disturbing and you may well want to argue with it as you read, we mean that in a good way

I loved it; it was visceral, provocative and curiously pertinent . . . The story has stayed with me since

Stylist, the decade's 15 best books by remarkable women

What starts out as a fantasy of female empowerment deepens and darkens into an interrogation of power itself, its uses and abuses and what it does to the people who have it

A raw, gutsy slice of speculative dystopia

Like the best science fiction, this dystopian feminist fantasy holds up a mirror to the here and now

A gripping read and a reminder of the true joy of a truly engaging story

Naomi's super-charged, subversive novel....forcing you to rethink everything

One of my favourite books of 2016 - clever, harrowing and thought-provoking

Paula Hawkins, best-selling author of The Girl on the Train

It's a feminist dystopian page-turner of a thriller and I'm IN LOVE with it

This year's Baileys winner is simultaneously a high-concept thought experiment and a rollercoaster, action packed read

The Power by Naomi Alderman is the feminist flipside to The Handmaid's Tale, asking what happens when women are suddenly the stronger sex

An enthrallingly told Cassandra-like prophecy from the ever-inventive Naomi Alderman

This book sparks with such electric satire that you should read it wearing insulated gloves

The Power is at once as streamlined as a 90-minute action film and as weirdly resonant as one of Atwood's own early fictions

In this fierce and unsettling novel, the ability to generate a dangerous electrical force from their bodies lets women take control, resulting in a vast, systemic upheaval of gender dynamics across the globe

It's a riveting story, told in fittingly electric language, that explores how power corrupts everyone: those new to it and those resisting its loss'

'She throws her head back and pushes her chest forward and lets go a huge blast right into the centre of his body. The rivulets and streams of red scarring run across his chest and up around his throat. She'd put her hand on his heart and stopped him dead.' 
 
 Suddenly - tomorrow or the day after - girls find that with a flick of their fingers, they can inflict agonizing pain and even death. With this single twist, the four lives at the heart of Naomi Alderman's extraordinary, visceral novel are utterly transformed, and we look at the world in an entirely new light. 
 
What if the power to hurt were in women's hands?

Naomi Alderman is the author of three previous novels: Disobedience, The Lessons and The Liars' Gospel. She has won the Orange Award for New Writers and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She was selected for Granta's once-a-decade list of Best of Young British Novelists and Waterstones Writers for the Future. She presents Science Stories on BBC Radio 4, she is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and she is the co-creator and lead writer of the bestselling smartphone audio adventure app Zombies, Run!. She lives in London.

Suddenly - tomorrow or the day after - teenage girls find that with a flick of their fingers, they can inflict agonizing pain and even death. With this single twist, the four lives at the heart of Naomi Alderman's extraordinary, visceral novel are utterly transformed.

Naomi Alderman

Compulsively engrossing ... draws us into an uncanny world of hurt and tenderness. Speculative fiction with brains and heart

Alderman has created something curious, messy and unexpectedly comforting ... her wit and dazzling, inquiring intellect blaze out

Bold and uncompromising ... interrogates pain at the source without searching for a neat encapsulation ... the result is something wonderful

What a glowing, remarkable, brilliant gift of a book! Truly what the world needs now

Laurie Frankel, author of This Is How It Always Is and Enormous Wings

A profoundly strange and deeply marvellous book about grief. It's been pure joy to live for a while inside Naomi Alderman's brain

Lucy Worsley, author of Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman:

The most profound book I have ever read on the subject of grief (as well as being a deeply absorbing and often funny novel). I felt such a pang to reach the end

'Utterly compelling ... I love [Naomi's] writing, I love her mind'

In the same way that a gravestone is an attempt to give form to an absence, Alderman’s structural ingenuity allows the reader to wrangle some of the ineffable aspects of grief into something more coherent and bounded

The Strangers is a deeply moving and wise book, asserting the painful truth that we simply do not get to choose the things that we lose

Her most personal work yet ... A must-read for anyone who has ever loved and lost

Wonderfully odd, intensely affecting ... so completely sui generis

Alderman has gone from promising young author to publishing phenomenon, a writer gifted with the double Midas touch of commercial success and literary prestige

An entirely new species of writing about grief. I loved this weird, warm-blooded, and inquisitive book

Eleanor Catton, author of Birnam Wood and The Luminaries

A multi-layered treat of a novel, wise, honest and wonderfully strange. I loved it

Dazzling ... beguiling ... there is so much insight on display here: on illness, womanhood and grief

Ever since beginning this novel, the analytical part of my brain has been trying to determine what Alderman is using the mimmoth as a metaphor for. I have since decided this sort of explicit decoding misses the point. This surprising, poignant book lurks in a world far stranger – that is, far more human – than such a straightforward message could ever offer

Incredibly powerful ... [Alderman] is one of that rarified group of writers whose new book I will be buying whatever it’s about, whether or not the premise appeals to me. I am here for the ride with Alderman, wherever she chooses to go ... This beautiful, strange book is absolutely worth reading ... Because Alderman is above all wise, and at heart I think that while this is a book about grief, it is also a book about hope. It is a book about change, and our futile attempts to resist its inevitability. It is a book about what we stand to gain if only we can give ourselves over to the mysteries and essential randomness of life

They had come from nowhere, and now they were everywhere 
 
A few months after her mother dies, the novelist Naomi Alderman sets up a wildlife camera in the back garden of her parents’ home. It captures the first image of a strange new animal. Low to the ground, about the size of a badger, flat face, long trunk-like nose. Suddenly these ‘mimmoths’ are as common as foxes or dogs. And no one knows where they’ve come from. 
 
As Alderman negotiates the territory of grief – a place with its own logic and rhythms – the mimmoths spread. From the UK east and west, to the United States, to Russia, to India. They seem harmless, but oddly intelligent. They cannot be captured, they will not take food from humans, they have their own purposes. 
 
Alderman cannot shake the feeling that she has a particular connection to the creatures. Or is she just succumbing to ‘mimmoth psychosis’? As the impact of the mimmoths increases, she is pulled into the cross currents of conspiracy theories and global power struggles. Have her deeply personal forms of mourning lent recent events a surreal air, or is our reality changing drastically and irrevocably? 
 
From the award-winning author of the international bestseller, The Power, The Strangers is a thrillingly original and devastatingly moving novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be human. It’s like nothing you’ll have read before.

Naomi Alderman

Books by Naomi Alderman

Series by Naomi Alderman

Doctor Who Children's Collection

Articles featuring Naomi Alderman

What to read after The Handmaid’s Tale

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