The Heart Goes Last

There is no tonic more bracing in the face of our present melting-down world than Margaret Atwood’s smart and slyly funny cynicism, no stratagem more effective in warding off disaster than staring it in the face—and laughing at it. The Heart Goes Last finds a married couple, Stan and Charmaine, living in their car fending off roving gangs. The economy has crashed and their once-bright futures are dim, to put it mildly. After seeing an ad for a corporation that offers hope—security, money, a safe albeit controlled environment—they apply, ignoring warnings from Stan’s brother, and are accepted. What happens to each of them in the town of Consilience, the panache and wit with which Atwood peoples that town, what their fate says about the fate of all of us is the stuff of this mesmerizing, funny, frightening novel. – Betsy Burton