A BETTER WORLD by Sarah Langan is set in a dystopian future. The world is on the verge of collapse and people are struggling to get by. However, there are pockets where the air is clean, food is free, a safe environment and there are excellent schools. Welcome to Plymouth Valley, one of these places. When Linda, Russell and their twins are offered the opportunity to live there on a trial basis, of course, they jump at the opportunity. Who wouldn't? They soon discover there is much more behind the walled enclave than beautiful homes and well-manicured lawns.
The author has crafted a remarkable story about a man-made society whose culture is rooted in ancient rituals and delusions of grandeur. A society that is suspicious of newcomers and is class-conscious. Desperate to be granted permanent residency, Linda and her family struggle to fit in. Easier said than done. When Linda, a physician, is offered a position at the community's charity medical center things change for the family. Suddenly they have friends, invitations and a sense of belonging. Why? One fateful night a near tragedy occurs and Linda becomes suspicious about the circumstances. As time passes, Linda finds much more that she can't reconcile. As her family begins to fall apart, they look for a way to escape the toxic situation they have found themselves in. This, too, proves to be easier said than done.
A BETTER WORLD is a dark and eerie story. With few exceptions, the characters are a disturbing lot. Even so, I found this to be a thought-provoking and engrossing story with a shocking ending. Highly recommended.
A cunning, outside-the-box satirical thriller about a family’s odyssey into an exclusive enclave for the wealthy that might not be as ideal as it seems.
You’ll be safe here. That’s what the tour guide tells the Farmer-Bowens when they visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with clean air, pantries that never go empty, and blue-ribbon schools. On a very trial basis, the company offers to hire Linda Farmer’s husband, Russell, a numbers genius, and relocate her whole family to this bucolic paradise for the .0001 percent. Though Linda will have to sacrifice her medical career back home, the family jumps at the opportunity. They’d be crazy not to take it. With the outside world falling apart, this might be the Farmer-Bowens’ last chance.
But fitting in takes work. The pampered locals distrust outsiders, snubbing Linda, Russell, and their teen twins. And the residents fervently adhere to a group of customs and beliefs called Hollow...but what exactly is Hollow?
It’s Linda who brokers acceptance, by volunteering her medical skills to the most influential people in town through their pet charity, ActHollow. In the months afterward, everything seems fine. Sure, Russell starts hyperventilating through a paper bag in the middle of the night, and the kids have become secretive, but living in Plymouth Valley is worth sacrificing their family’s closeness, isn’t it? At least they’ll survive. The trouble is, the locals never say what they think. They seem scared. And Hollow’s ominous culminating event, the Plymouth Valley Winter Festival, is coming.
Linda is warned by her husband and her powerful new friends to stop asking questions. But the more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. Should the Farmer-Bowens be fighting to stay, or fighting to get out?
Sarah Langan’s latest novel, A Better World, is gleefully ruthless in its dissection of wealth, power, and privilege, timely in its depiction of a self-destructing world—and it is a prescient warning to us all.
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