Naomi Alderman

From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Power comes a white-knuckle tour de force and dazzling exploration of the world we have made and where we are going. The Future—as the richest people on the planet have discovered—is where the money is. The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers. The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons. The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization. The Future is what you see if you don’t look behind you. The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire. The Future is here.

The Future

Lindsay

“If I met someone, I’d fall through the hole in the ice inside myself. I can’t be happy again because then I’d know how unhappy I am.”

How does trust build between people? It is an offering and a receiving. It is putting yourself into the position to be hurt, just a little, and noticing that they refrain. It is the reaching out between people, laughing at the same moment. It is building a model of the other person inside yourself, placing them in the palm of your hand, rotating them and saying: Yes. I see the flaws and I see the dangers and nothing will happen here that will truly harm me. And it is saying: I would rather trust you than be alone.

Maybe that’s what love was, or sudden pointed lust, or attraction or whatever Zhen had felt in that first moment, just a recognition that this person would be able to understand the worst thing that had happened in your life.

The Future quotes

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