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The Meadows

Stephanie Oakes

$22.99

Paperback

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English
Dial House
28 November 2023
"Everyone hopes for a letter-to attend the Estuary, the Pines, the Glades. To attend the Meadows. These are the secret places where only the best and brightest go, to learn to burn even brighter.

When Eleanor gets her letter, she knows she's freed from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster and war. But despite the Meadows' luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, it keeps a dark secret- its purpose is to reform the students inside, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. Anything else, they're told, will topple a society already on the brink of collapse.

Five years later, Eleanor is an adjudicator, making sure the Meadows' former students don't stray from the life they've been conditioned to live. But Eleanor can't escape her past, or thoughts of the girl she once loved. Because that girl isn't here anymore. What happened to her could be no one but Eleanor's fault. And as secrets emerge that set Eleanor on a dangerous but determined search for the truth, she knows if she's not careful, it could be her fate too.

A queer, YA Handmaid's Tale meets Never Let Me Go about a dystopian society determined to ""reform"" anyone who is LGBTQ+ and the lengths to which one girl will go to save herself and her friends

Everyone hopes for a letter-to attend the Estuary, the Pines, the Glades. To attend the Meadows. These are the secret places where only the best and brightest go, to learn to burn even brighter.

When Eleanor gets her letter, she knows she's freed from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster and war. But despite the Meadows' luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, it keeps a dark secret- its purpose is to reform the students inside, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. Anything else, they're told, will topple a society already on the brink of collapse.

Five years later, Eleanor is an adjudicator, making sure the Meadows' former students don't stray from the life they've been conditioned to live. But Eleanor can't escape her past, or thoughts of the girl she once loved. Because that girl isn't here anymore. What happened to her could be no one but Eleanor's fault. And as secrets emerge that set Eleanor on a dangerous but determined search for the truth, she knows if she's not careful, it could be her fate too."

By:  
Imprint:   Dial House
Country of Publication:   United States
Edition:   International edition
Dimensions:   Height: 209mm,  Width: 139mm,  Spine: 30mm
Weight:   442g
ISBN:   9780593619636
ISBN 10:   0593619633
Pages:   448
Publication Date:  
Recommended Age:   From 14 years
Audience:   Young adult ,  Preschool (0-5)
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Stephanie Oakes is the author of The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, which was a Morris Award finalist and a Golden Kite Honor book, and The Arsonist, which won the Washington State Book Award and was an ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. An elementary school librarian, Stephanie lives in Spokane, Washington with her wife and family.

Reviews for The Meadows

"★ ""Oakes employs evocative prose and worldbuilding shot through with equal parts melancholy and hope to craft an intelligent dystopian tale that proves a biting interpretation of contemporary issues surrounding conversion therapy, homophobia, misogyny, and racism."" —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The Meadows is built with extraordinary parts—stunning language, complex characters, and the most exquisite heart. It’s a stop-you-in-your-tracks book, a reach-inside-and-grab-you book. I love its beating, beaming essence—that we are all good, and deserving of love, just as we are. A story of pain, injustice, love, resistance, and hope, this glorious book will lodge inside you and make you feel everything.” —Helena Fox, award-winning author of How It Feels to Float and The Quiet and the Loud “Cogent and incisive in its remarks on our present world, [The Meadows is] timely and gripping, [with] tension at a constant simmer and a new revelation always around the corner.” —Kirkus Reviews ""I was utterly swept away from page one. Atmospheric and unsettling, The Meadows is a dystopia that belongs in every collection. This is an incisive examination of the quiet violence of conversion therapies and the revolutionary power of self-love."" —Natalie C. Parker, award-winning author of the Seafire series “Gripping . . . A YA Handmaid's Tale [that] toggles seamlessly between past and present. [For] readers who enjoy dystopian books with feminist themes and stories that highlight the power of queer community.” —Booklist"


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