Fallow

Name: Fallow
Brand: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SKU: 9780374621148
Price: 34.80 USD
Availability: InStock

$34.80

Product Variants

Biographical Note:
Sarah Anderson is a graduate of the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan, where she won two Hopwood Awards. Her story "Take Me to Kirkland," originally published in Joyland, is featured in The Best American Short Stories 2025.

Review Quotes:

"One of the funniest writers alive . . . anyone who sat in a gray cubicle will find themselves connecting all too well with the terribly funny moments in this book."
--Debutiful

"Darkly funny . . . Anderson sustains an absurd yet disturbingly realistic critique of corporate America. This dystopian tale is as sharp as it is moving."
--Publisher's Weekly

" Fallow is a spectacular debut: hilarious, sly, sharp, and extraordinarily thoughtful about the knotty philosophical issues that arise where capitalism and the body meet. Sarah Anderson is a dazzling new talent."
--Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster Wilds

" Fallow sits smartly at the axis of corporate markets and motherhood. It joins a literary tradition of women discovering who they are while their bodies evolve in astounding ways. What a joy to be in Natalie's head--a young woman who hates to work but doesn't shy away from labor. Fallow is a delightfully sharp, dynamic debut."
--Kiley Reid, author of Come and Get It

"Sarah Anderson's imaginative debut posits a world in which the corporate has almost wholly consumed the human. So disturbingly plausible it can scarcely be considered satire, Fallow is a very funny book about work and ambition, the faltering systems that dictate much of contemporary life, and the possibility of another way forward."
--Rumaan Alam, author of Entitlement

" Fallow is a sly marvel of a novel: a witty, vivacious page-turner that doubles as a wry critique of capitalism, corporate culture, and reproductive politics. Sarah Anderson's debut--a kind of gonzo Handmaid's Tale--is simply dazzling in its audacity and invention."
--Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself

"Beguiling and absurdly funny, Fallow is an unputdownable exploration of what happens when one woman's desire for financial stability and comfort meets another woman's desire for a child. A striking look at capitalism, inequality, and the commodification of our very selves, Fallow sings in so many registers and with so much heart. Sarah Anderson is a major new talent."
--Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

Publisher Marketing:

Slyly funny and disarmingly tender, Fallow is the story of a young woman who signs up to be the world's first in-house corporate surrogate, then finds herself caught up in a social experiment of another kind.

Natalie knows one truth: There is no such thing as a good job.

As the clock ticks away at the workplace harassment call center, she tries to ignore the increasing pain in her jaw. She has no dental insurance. She has no skills or ambitions. She has student loans. And, minute by minute, she hears the many ways workers are not just not getting by, but actually getting hustled.

Then, at the blood bank where she sells her plasma, a mysterious flyer leads her to The Company. Natalie turns out to be the perfect candidate for their pilot program: in-house surrogate. The Company pitches it as an opportunity to help women access greater gender equity, motherhood without maternity leave. Finally, she will be adequately--generously--compensated.

For years, her every need is met: stacks of healthy meals in the refrigerator of a luxury condo, fitness coaches and nutritionists, around-the-clock healthcare. Between deliveries, she takes time off--no obligations or expectations. For the first time in her life, she is good at her job; for the first time, she feels free.

But just as she's about to fulfill the terms of her contract, a staffing decision upends everything and drags her deep into another social experiment. There she meets new questions about her future, her freedom, her purpose, and what she can expect from the world.

Woundingly funny and deeply moving, Sarah Anderson's Fallow is a tender, hilarious, alarmingly real vision of a woman balancing on the knife-edge of capitalism as she comes to realize who she wants to be.

Contributor Bio:Anderson, Sarah
Sarah Anderson is a graduate of the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan, where she won two Hopwood Awards. Her story "Take Me to Kirkland," originally published in Joyland, is featured in The Best American Short Stories 2025.