Original Swedish title: Den nya människan
Published by: Kalla Kulor Förlag, Fall 2013
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
Synopsis
What happens when all the new children being born aren’t normal?
I’ve killed a child.
That’s what they tell me in the police station interrogation room. Inside my head, I’m screaming.
– It wasn’t a child I killed. It was something completely different. Can’t you see that?’
No children are being born and the world is in shock. After a few years, women begin to get pregnant again, but the new children are not like children used to be. They don’t play games or show emotions, they only watch silently. Against her will, Rakel becomes involved when she kills one of the new children. She is among the first to realize that the new generation is a threat to humanity’s very existence.
More children are born and they develop faster than normal humans. After a brutal incident at work, Rakel escapes: From anxiety and betrayed love, seeking solace in drink and the company of strangers. Until she discovers something …
Press
The New Children by Boel Bermann is a discomforting vision of our future. Rakel, a computer games developer, realizes that the new children born after a period of worldwide infertility are different. But what do they really want? Are they a threat to humanity? Thrilling and ominous vision of the future with both hope and chaos within reach.’
Metro, Sweden
‘The child stops being loyal to the society that is not loyal towards the child and stares right through them. The apartment with the abandoned child could be taken from Boel Bermann’s sharp debut novel published this Fall. Bermann writes in the dystopian sci-fi tradition where humanity eats their own children. Such heart-stopping stories of the end of childhood and the collapse of civilization reflect the novels by Brian Aldiss (Greybeard, 1964) and P D James (Children of Men, 1992). They depict the merciless dictatorships that arise when there is no ideological hope for the future. The last generation of children in P D James’ novel live in a society of strong, healthy independent adults.’
Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
‘Great to see the Swedish dystopia take a step forward. Interesting, with parallels to be drawn with our own society.’
Dagensbok.com, Sweden
‘This is a dystopia that sends shivers down your spine from the first page. The story is told through newspaper articles, research interviews and the main narrative told by Rakel. That the future portrayed is so close in time and that the society largely resembles our current society makes it all the more frightening. The story is well written and the characters believable. The reader soon begins to wonder if this nightmare could come true: how should we relate to it? A very captivating debut.’
Bibliotek i Fokus, Sweden
Read more reviews here:
http://boelbermann.se/the-new-children-reviews/
