The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047

From Lionel Shriver, the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, comes a striking new novel about family, money and global economic crisis

The year is 2029, and nothing is as it should be. The very essence of American life, the dollar, is under attack. As the result of a coordinated move by the rest of the world’s governments, the dollar loses all value. The American president declares that the United States will default on its loans. Prices skyrocket, currency becomes essentially worthless and we watch one family struggle to survive through it all.

The Mandibles can count on their inheritance no longer, and each family member must come to terms with this in their own way—from elegant expat author Nollie, returning to the U.S. in middle age after many years abroad, to her precocious teenage nephew, Willing, who is the only one to actually understand the crisis, to brilliant Georgetown economics professor Lowell, who watches his whole vision of the world disintegrate before his eyes.

As ever, Shriver draws larger-than-life characters who illuminate this complicated, changing world. One of our sharpest observers of human nature, Shriver challenges us to think long and hard about the society we live in and what, ultimately, we hold most dear.