Lightning Books signs 'visionary' dystopian debut

Eye Books imprint Lightning Books has signed Wolf Country by Tunde Farrand, a debut dystopian novel set in a future version of Britain in which a citizen's level of monthly spending dictates their social class.

Editor-at-large Scott Pack acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights from Charlotte Seymour at Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

Wolf Country is set in Britain in 2050. The socio-economic crisis is over and consumerism is thriving. Ownership of land is the preserve of a tiny elite, and the rest of the population is divided into High, Mid and Low Spenders. When citizens stop spending, they lose their Right to Reside and must retire to a Dignitorium, where they are rewarded for their lifelong contribution to society with nine wonderful months, before being peacefully euthanised.

The novel follows Alice, a young woman whose husband, Philip, has gone missing, along with all the money from his bank account. Desperate, and on the verge of losing her own Right to Reside, she begins to question the society in which she was raised and ends up turning to her older sister, Sofia, who abandoned the family many years ago to marry an Owner. Sofia never disguised her hatred and contempt for her younger sister, but she may be the last chance Alice has…

Pack said: "Tunde Farrand's vision of our future is bleak and chilling, all the more so because it is so believable. As with novels such as Never Let Me Go and Station Eleven, this fictional world feels like one we could be living in a few decades from now."

Farrand said: "I am thrilled that Wolf Country has found the perfect home at Lightning Books whose editors completely understand what I wanted to express with the novel, which to me is not so much fiction as a palpable and menacing reality."

Lightning will publish in paperback and e-book in February 2019.