Line

Niall Bourke

From Shelf: It Almost Broke My Brain: Science Fiction to Make Your Head Spin

Willard, his mother and his girlfriend Nyla have spent their entire lives in an endless journey where daily survival is dictated by the ultimate imperative: obey the rules, or you will lose your place in the Line.

No one hast ever left the Line, nor shalt thou. To do so wouldst dishonour the sacrifices of all those gone before. No one hast ever left the Line, nor shalt thou. To do so wouldst mean thy family must pay your penance. Thou mayst leave thy place in the Line but only once - when thou dost marry. But thou can only move down the Line, never up. For that is how thou will know it is true love. And because moving up would be skipping. And that is the most important rule of all. Thou Shalt Not Skip The Line. Thou Shalt Not Skip The Line. Willard, his mother and his girlfriend Nyla have spent their entire lives in an endless journey where daily survival is dictated by the ultimate imperative: obey the rules, or you will lose your place in the Line. Everything changes the day Willard's mother dies and he finds an incomprehensible book hidden among her few belongings... LINE pushes the boundaries of speculative, high-concept fiction. Deeply moving, it also touches on many of the pressing issues of our turbulent world: migration and the refugee criss, big data and the erosion of democracy, climate change, colonialism, economic exploitation, social conformity, and religious fanaticism.