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by Joanne Ramos
Life is a lucrative business, as long as you play by the rules.
Nestled in New York's Hudson Valley is a luxury retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, personal fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. In fact, you're paid big money to stay here—more than you've ever dreamed of. The catch? For nine months, you cannot leave the grounds, your movements are monitored, and you are cut off from your former life while you dedicate yourself to the task of producing the perfect baby. For someone else.
Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is in desperate search of a better future when she commits to being a "Host" at Golden Oaks—or the Farm, as residents call it. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her family, Jane is determined to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she'll receive on the delivery of her child.
Gripping, provocative, heartbreaking, The Farm pushes to the extremes our thinking on motherhood, money, and merit and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love.
"Excellent, both as a reproductive dystopian narrative and as a social novel about women and class." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"An alarmingly realistic look at the power of wealth and access buoyed by clear, compelling storytelling and appealing, if not always likable, characters." - Booklist (starred review)
"A surefire hit with book groups, this striking novel will also appeal strongly to readers who like dystopian touches and ethically complicated narratives." - Publishers Weekly
"[Joanne] Ramos's debut novel couldn't be more relevant or timely." - O:The Oprah Magazine (25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2019)
"This topical, provocative debut anatomizes class, race and the American dream." - The Guardian, "What You'll Be Reading This Year"
"Wow, Joanne Ramos has written the page-turner about immigrants chasing what's left of the American dream... . Truly unforgettable." - Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Lake Success
"A highly original and provocative story about the impossible choices in so many women's lives. These characters will stay with me for a long time." - Karen Thompson Walker, New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Miracles and The Dreamers
"Ramos has written a firecracker of a novel, at once caustic and tender, page-turning and thought-provoking. This is a fierce indictment of the vampiric nature of modern capitalism, which never loses sight of the very human stories at its center... . Highly recommended." - Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Circe
This information about The Farm was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a B.A. from Princeton University. After working in investment banking and private-equity investing for several years, she became a staff writer at The Economist. She currently serves on the board of The Moth. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.
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