Severance

Ling Ma Text €12.35

This slick debut imagines survivors of a global pandemic picking their way across a ravaged America. With impressive evenness of tone, it braids its two narrative strands. Before, Candace is just another artsy 20-something spending her money on cosmetics and couture. After, she’s forced to throw in her lot with a power-hungry zealot. She’s also guarding a secret that will demand of her unfathomable bravery. It all makes for a deadpan takedown of capitalism and globalism. Hephzibah Anderson