Baby Zero
"An incendiary, thought-provoking novel, like a haunting and spiritual ballad it moves us and makes us care." - Irvine Welsh
A young woman reluctantly leaves her career as a glamorous Los Angeles plastic surgeon to rescue her estranged mother who is trapped in an unheard of country called Orap. Each successive Taliban-like regime turns the year back to zero, as if to begin history again. Unaccustomed to such restrictions, she finds herself imprisoned and pregnant. To survive, she tells the story of her family to her unborn child. What did happen to the two beautiful and vulnerable refugee kids placed in the care of Uncle Mo, in his Malibu ocean house?
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Reviews
"Martin delights in subverting the glib stereotypes of East and West and rejects traditional markers of nationality, identity and ethnicity in favour of a focus on individuals and the similarities between them... Baby Zero is both a convincing tale and a timely warning."
- The Irish Times
"Baby Zero is a literary unit so flush , confident and unique that it should win a big fat prize, and I suspect it will. It's as sharp and sore and dizzying as a bullet wound, and will probably stay with you for just as long."
- Belfast Telegraph
"A riveting page-turner. A compelling satire on the clash of civilizations, the success of this story lies in the telling."
- Brenda McNalty, Sunday Tribune
"Martin's book surprised me with its insight into the politics and confusion of immigration and unstable governments. The story could not be more timely given the coups, political terror, and possibility of a Trump presidency that characterize our world today. But her story is above all about the small and personal lives of its characters and how they each are harmed, or empowered, or ignored, by the political forces that happen to surround them. It made me feel vulnerable, alive, curious, and afraid. I loved it."
- Adrienne
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