WINNER of the WRITERS' GUILD BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD: A riveting, thought-provoking speculative literary novel exploring the impact of the AI revolution through the eyes of three very different young women.
Lal, Janetta and Rose are living in a time of flux. Technological advance has brought huge financial rewards to those with power, but large swathes of the population are losing their jobs to artificial intelligence, or auts, as they're called. Unemployment is high, discontent is rife and rumours are swirling. Many feel robbed - not just of their livelihoods, but of their hopes for the future.
Lal is languishing in her role at a coffee shop and feeling overshadowed by her quietly brilliant sister, Janetta, whose Ph.D. is focused on making auts empathetic. Even Rose, Lal's best friend, has found a sense of purpose in charismatic up-and-coming politician Alek.
When vigilantes break in to the coffee shop and destroy their new coffee-making aut, it sets in motion a chain of events that will pull the three young women in very different directions.
Change is coming - change that will launch humankind into a new era. If Rose, Lal and Janetta can find a way to combine their burgeoning talents, they might just end up setting the course of history.
sapphic literature and poetry quotes every 4 hours. edited to fit tweets. @achilleanlitbot.
Janetta wanted her so much, though, that she couldn’t bring herself to stop, extending to the full length of her limbs and abandoning herself to Taly’s touch, even as she felt something fall inside her. Eli Lee, A Strange and Brilliant Light
Fans of relational narratives will enjoy the interactions of the three protagonists while there is also intellectual AI debate for those science fiction readers more drawn to ideas over people
--SFBOOK REVIEWSThis is a thoughtful, interior-focused story...like Ishiguro's Klara And The Sun
--SFX MAGAZINELee has created a story that feels relevant and poignant for a world on the brink of automating so many parts of our working lives
--BOOKS IN STEEL CITYA thought-provoking novel
--THERESA SMITH WRITESEli Lee can write description and emotion beautifully
--BOOKS BY YOUR BEDSIDE