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A thrilling and ominously prophetic debut set in a world when Earth and its resources have been pushed to breaking point, giving rise to a revolutionary—and highly controversial—procedure in which two people's consciousness can be combined to exist in one body.
How far would you go to never say goodbye?
Laurie is sixty-five and living with Alzheimer's. Her daughter Amelia, a once fiery and strong-willed activist, can't bear to see her mother's mind fade. Faced with the reality of losing her forever, Amelia signs them up to take part in the world's first experimental merging process for Alzheimer's patients, in which Laurie's ailing mind will be transferred into Amelia's healthy body and their consciousness will be blended as one.
Soon Amelia and Laurie join the opaque and mysterious group of other merge participants: teenage Lucas, who plans to merge with his terminally ill brother Noah; Ben, who will merge with his pregnant fiancée Annie; and Jay, whose merging partner is his addict daughter Lara. As they prepare to move to The Village, a luxurious rehabilitation center for those who have merged, they quickly begin to question whether everything is really as it seems.
An exhilarating, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, The Merge is a personal story of love, family, and sacrifice, as well as a thought-provoking examination of the limits of control, resistance, and freedom in our modern world.
"An inventive exploration of climate change, class disparity, corporate influence, and biotech 'enhancement'...An excellent addition to the growing catalog of 21st-century dystopian nightmares." —Kirkus Reviews
"Impressive… Walker effectively blends climate dystopia and body horror, especially in the novel's chilling final twist." —Publishers Weekly
"Disturbingly believable and oddly intriguing...An innovative dystopia that offers a fascinating look at how science, social control, and information manipulation intersect in a totalitarian future." —Library Journal
"A future classic of the genre...Walker creates an uncanny world so rich and all-encompassing that it's hard to believe it's not real. The Merge lures you in, hurtling towards a conclusion that I could hardly bear to look at – but couldn't pull myself away from. This is propulsive, deeply satisfying novel, weaving slivers of hope with the terrifying setting of a near-future sci-fi. A tender display of the difficult love between mother and daughter, set against a moral and ethical dilemma: is it better to prolong a life unnaturally, or learn to let go?' —Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface
"An arresting, deeply imaginative debut. The Merge is both a gripping speculative drama and a moving meditation on memory, family and control. Grace Walker also asks what we're willing to surrender for those we love and her questions linger long after the final page." —Freya Bromley, author of The Tidal Year
This information about The Merge was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Grace Walker is an English teacher living in Surrey. The Merge is her first novel.
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