The Testament of Jessie Lamb: A Novel

by Jane Rogers

Overview

In a chilling future, one 16-year-old girl is driven to the ultimate act of heroism. The Testament of Jessie Lamb, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is the breakout novel from award-winning author Jane Rogers. Its cunningly drawn characters and riveting vision of a dystopic future fraught with difficult moral choices will make The Testament of Jessie Lamb an instant favorite for fans of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, and Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man.

“The novel does not set up an elaborate apocalypse, but astringently strips away the smears hiding the apocalypses we really face. Like Jessie’s, it is a small, calm voice of reason in a nonsensical world.” —The Independent

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062130815
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

JANE ROGERS has written eight novels, including Her Living Image (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Mr. Wroe’s Virgins (a Guardian Fiction Prize runner-up), Promised Lands (winner of the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Fiction Book), Island (longlisted for the Orange Prize) and The Voyage Home. She has written drama for radio and TV, including an award-winning adaptation of Mr. Wroe’s Virgins for BBC2. She has taught writing at the University of Adelaide, at Paris Sorbonne IV and on a radio-writing project in eastern Uganda. She is professor of writing at Sheffield Hallam University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Jane lives on the edge of the moors in Lancashire, England. Visit her online at janerogers.org.

Editorial Reviews

Echoes of Kazuo Ishiguro's stealthy novel Never Let Me Go abound, but Rogers works with a more populist tool kit, nailing the tempestuous inner conflicts of a young woman as she discerns the full measure of selfishness required to be selfless.
—Jan Stuart

The New York Times Book Review

“The novel does not set up an elaborate apocalypse, but astringently strips away the smears hiding the apocalypses we really face. Like Jessie’s, it is a small, calm voice of reason in a nonsensical world.” — The Independent

“Jane Rogers has captured Jessie’s voice brilliantly, alternating a teenager’s solipsism with a growing awareness of the wider world. Jessie’s self-conviction is both admirable and infuriating, and the reader is torn between her clear, unequivocal conclusions and the intricate, heartfelt compromises of her parents.” — Times Literary Supplement (London)

“A powerful dystopian novel…Long-listed for the Booker Prize, Rogers’ mesmerizing tale is frighteningly timely and bound to spark rich book-club discussions.” — Booklist

“Thought-provoking, smart, real, disturbing, and well-written...A compelling page-turner of a novel.” — Popmatters

“Echoes of Kazuo Ishiguro’s stealthy novel Never Let Me Go abound, but Rogers works with a more populist tool kit, nailing the tempestuous inner conflicts of a young woman as she discerns the full measure of selfishness required to be selfless.” — New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully and convincingly written, Jessie’s testament for posterity is truly moving, haunting…a rich, heavy read, full of provocative questions…” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Thought-provoking, smart, real, disturbing, and well-written...A compelling page-turner of a novel.

Popmatters

Jane Rogers has captured Jessie’s voice brilliantly, alternating a teenager’s solipsism with a growing awareness of the wider world. Jessie’s self-conviction is both admirable and infuriating, and the reader is torn between her clear, unequivocal conclusions and the intricate, heartfelt compromises of her parents.

Times Literary Supplement (London)

The novel does not set up an elaborate apocalypse, but astringently strips away the smears hiding the apocalypses we really face. Like Jessie’s, it is a small, calm voice of reason in a nonsensical world.

The Independent

A powerful dystopian novel…Long-listed for the Booker Prize, Rogers’ mesmerizing tale is frighteningly timely and bound to spark rich book-club discussions.

Booklist

Echoes of Kazuo Ishiguro’s stealthy novel Never Let Me Go abound, but Rogers works with a more populist tool kit, nailing the tempestuous inner conflicts of a young woman as she discerns the full measure of selfishness required to be selfless.

New York Times Book Review

A powerful dystopian novel…Long-listed for the Booker Prize, Rogers’ mesmerizing tale is frighteningly timely and bound to spark rich book-club discussions.

Booklist

"Jane Rogers has captured Jessie’s voice brilliantly, alternating a teenager’s solipsism with a growing awareness of the wider world. Jessie’s self-conviction is both admirable and infuriating, and the reader is torn between her clear, unequivocal conclusions and the intricate, heartfelt compromises of her parents."

Time Magazines Literary Supplement (London)

As a rogue virus kills pregnant women, Jessie Lamb’s world is teetering on the demise of the human race. Narrator Fiona Hardingham superbly captures 16-year old Jessie. While Jessie struggles with survival in a frightening world, Hardingham provides a tone of confidence and optimism that places the horrors around her in high relief. As Jessie questions her parents' motivations and heartbreaking compromises to deal with the new realities they face, she expresses her strong-willed independence and heroic plans for survival in a dystopian world. Thought-provoking and haunting. A.W. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2013 - AudioFile

An idealistic young heroine makes a decision that will alter her life, and possibly the world, in Rogers' (The Voyage Home, 2004, etc.) eighth novel. It's not easy being a teenager in Lamb's futuristic world. Like many young people, 16-year-old Jessie is struggling to find her own identity. She's dealing with all of the conflicts inherent in a teen's life--love, friendship, relationships, parental control--but she's also surrounded by an ominous force that threatens the very future of humankind: a genetically engineered virus, known as Maternal Death Syndrome, which destroys pregnant women and their unborn children. Jessie's father, a scientist, is part of a team that is working to stop it. Jessie, who narrates the story, begins to question all the attitudes and values she and her friends have learned as children. In an effort to find herself, Jessie joins an activist group and becomes marginally involved in several causes. As she ponders her role in life, the world around Jessie is disintegrating into chaotic demonstrations over women's equality, genetic engineering, moral injustice and just about every other important social issue known to man. Each is treated superficially by both Jessie and the author, and ultimately these threads detract from what could have been a provocative story. As if Jessie doesn't have enough on her plate already, she also must deal with her beloved aunt's illness, a rocky event in her parents' marriage, a friend's assault, the betrayal of an older adult, and a sexual encounter. Amid the turmoil, Jessie resolves to do something to make her life meaningful, a move that her father and those around her try to prevent. With an emotional disconnect that is inconsistent with true teen behavior, Jessie tries to convince her parents, her friends and herself that her chosen mission is the right path for her--and that one person can, indeed, make a difference. A disturbing story that, in the end, somehow seems a bit shallow.

Kirkus Reviews