From Lionel Shriver, the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, comes a striking new novel about family, money and global economic crisis

The year is 2029, and nothing is as it should be. The very essence of American life, the dollar, is under attack. As the result of a coordinated move by the rest of the world’s governments, the dollar loses all value. The American president declares that the United States will default on its loans. Prices skyrocket, currency becomes essentially worthless and we watch one family struggle to survive through it all.

The Mandibles can count on their inheritance no longer, and each family member must come to terms with this in their own way—from elegant expat author Nollie, returning to the U.S. in middle age after many years abroad, to her precocious teenage nephew, Willing, who is the only one to actually understand the crisis, to brilliant Georgetown economics professor Lowell, who watches his whole vision of the world disintegrate before his eyes.

As ever, Shriver draws larger-than-life characters who illuminate this complicated, changing world. One of our sharpest observers of human nature, Shriver challenges us to think long and hard about the society we live in and what, ultimately, we hold most dear.

“Sharp and wryly unpredictable, The Mandibles is also chilling because, set in the very near future, it’s so eminently plausible.”“[A] powerful work. . . . Prescient, imaginative and funny, it also asks deep questions.”“This is a sharp, smart, snarky satire of every conspiracy theory and hot button political issue ever spun; one that, at first glance, might induce an absurdist chuckle, until one realizes that it is based on an all-too-plausible reality.”“A provocative and very funny page-turner.”“Hilarious, brilliant new novel.”

In 2029, the United States is engaged in a bloodless world war that will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Overnight, on the international currency exchange, the “almighty dollar” plummets in value, to be replaced by a new global currency, the bancor. In retaliation, the president declares that America will default on its loans. The government prints money to cover its bills. What little remains to savers is rapidly eaten away by runaway inflation.

The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable inheritance once their ninety-seven-year-old patriarch dies. When their birthright turns to ash, what begins as mere disappointment spirals into the challenge of sheer survival.

Avery is petulant that she can’t buy olive oil, while her sister, Florence, is forced to take now-homeless family members into her cramped household. Their aunt Nollie, an expat author, returns from abroad at seventy-three to a country that’s unrecognizable. 

Nollie’s brother Carter fumes at caring for their demented stepmother, now that an assisted living facility is unaffordable. Only Florence’s oddball teenage son Willing, an economics autodidact, will save this formerly august American family from the streets.

“Known for tackling big contemporary issues head-on, Shriver deals skilfully here with the implications of economic meltdown. The novel, set in a near-ish future, tells of the plight of the once wealthy Mandible family and the decline of four generations into penury, thieving and prostitution.”