Trashlands

by Alison Stine Narrated by Brittany Pressley

Overview

"This thought-provoking apocalypse noir fires on all cylinders.” -Publishers Weekly starred review

From the author of Road Out of Winter, winner of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award, comes a resonant, visionary novel about the power of art and the sacrifices we are willing to make for the ones we love

A few generations from now, the coastlines of the continent have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce any new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: garbage is currency.

In the region-wide junkyard that Appalachia has become, Coral is a “plucker,” pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She's stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for the strip club at its edge, where the local women dance for an endless loop of strangers and the club's violent owner rules as unofficial mayor.

Amid the polluted landscape, Coral works desperately to save up enough to rescue her child from the recycling factories, where he is forced to work. In her stolen free hours, she does something that seems impossible in this place: Coral makes art.

When a reporter from a struggling city on the coast arrives in Trashlands, Coral is presented with an opportunity to change her life. But is it possible to choose a future for herself?

Told in shifting perspectives, Trashlands is a beautifully drawn and wildly imaginative tale of a parent's journey, a story of community and humanity in a changed world.

“A harrowing tale that is a natural extension of our current climate crisis.... Highly recommended.” -Booklist, starred review

Editorial Reviews

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Welcome to a dystopian hellscape in which coastal cities are washed away and survivors scavenge for scraps of plastic to trade for food and goods. Narrator Brittany Pressley enhances the bleakness of this world. As her voice depicts the environment, every word is heavy with hopelessness. She brings grim resignation to Coral, a plastic "plucker" whose young son, Shanghai, is forced to work in a factory. Pressley adeptly shifts between Coral and the voices of child slaves, erotic dancers, drugged-out factory guards, and the “mayor” of Trashlands, who rules through violence and exploitation. When a journalist arrives to research life in “Scrappalachia,” Coral begins to envision a different future for herself and her son. Listeners are left feeling their engaging story is only just beginning. J.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 06/28/2021

Philip K. Dick Award winner Stine (Road Out of Winter) sets this searing exploration of the lives of women who are mired in grinding poverty in a climate-ravaged near-future where plastic has become humanity’s only currency. The sordid strip club Trashlands in flood-prone “Scrappalachia” serves as the narrative hub as the novel shifts through multiple characters’ recollections and struggles. Among the expansive cast are the good-hearted sex-workers Foxglove and Summer; the vile Rattlesnake Master; single mother Coral, a scavenger of plastic who makes eerie art out of garbage; Coral’s lover, Trillium; the idealistic reporter, Miami; and the aging Mr. Fall, a teacher who agrees to help Coral find her stolen son. “You couldn’t be picky and live” in this rotting junkyard where women are treated as disposable and life comprises a heartbreaking miasma of hunger, yearning, ruthlessness, and compassion. Stine draws on her personal experience of today’s Appalachia to craft a harrowing vision of the future, and at its center is the tug-of-war between what is right and what is necessary to survive. This painful, thought-provoking apocalypse noir fires on all cylinders. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Praise for TRASHLANDS

“I felt every single word of this prescient novel deep in my blood. Inventive, expansive, and wild at heart, Trashlands proves that a mother’s love will outlast all else, even the earth’s ruin. Alison Stine writes like no other—with trademark ferocity and covert warmth as her characters make miracles out of what the rest of the world threw away. Stunning, through and through.” —Amy Jo Burns, author of Shiner


Praise for Road Out of Winter, winner of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award

“Richly imagined, deeply moving and unthinkably offers hope in a world that uncannily resembles ours currently in the thick of COVID-19…. Gloriously well-written.” –Ms. Magazine


"With echoes of The Road and Winter’s Bone, Stine's latest is an excellent feminist dystopian novel of survival, desperation and, ultimately, hope.... Sublimely written and with much for book clubs to discuss, this book is highly recommended for all collections." —Booklist, starred review


“Blends a rural thriller and speculative realism into what could be called dystopian noir. The author’s vision is profoundly moving… Readers searching for a novel fueled by fierce intelligence and empathy will find here a celebration of humanity, and a warning against its loss.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Haunting… Stine’s prose is crisp and atmospheric, and though bleakness abounds, the ending strikes a lovely balance of hope and pathos. Fans of climate fiction and found family stories will be entranced.” —Publishers Weekly


“A closely observed, evocative portrayal of place in a time of extreme duress. A warning about who we become and who we want to be in an uncertain future. Beautifully written and essential.” —Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of Hummingbird Salamander

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Welcome to a dystopian hellscape in which coastal cities are washed away and survivors scavenge for scraps of plastic to trade for food and goods. Narrator Brittany Pressley enhances the bleakness of this world. As her voice depicts the environment, every word is heavy with hopelessness. She brings grim resignation to Coral, a plastic "plucker" whose young son, Shanghai, is forced to work in a factory. Pressley adeptly shifts between Coral and the voices of child slaves, erotic dancers, drugged-out factory guards, and the “mayor” of Trashlands, who rules through violence and exploitation. When a journalist arrives to research life in “Scrappalachia,” Coral begins to envision a different future for herself and her son. Listeners are left feeling their engaging story is only just beginning. J.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176352160
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/26/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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