Fallow - by Sarah Anderson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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 call center where she logs complaints of workplace harassment, 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, pitched as an opportunity to help women access greater gender equity. She will be their in-house surrogate, delivering seven babies in ten years and enabling their executives to have 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 health care. Between deliveries, she takes time off--a fallow period, with 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. Natalie is pulled into an entirely different kind of social experiment, one that raises new questions about her future, her freedom, her purpose, what she can expect from the world, and what she can offer to it.

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

Review Quotes

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

"Unfolding into an utterly unexpected journey, Anderson's debut novel is an engrossing commentary on workplace culture, autonomy, and late-stage capitalism. Readers of Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear (2026) and Aisling Rawle's The Compound (2025) will enjoy the morally gray protagonist and the wry humor in a dystopian-tinged setting."
--Patricia Smith, Booklist (starred review)

"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

"Imagine The Handmaid's Tale, but make it pure capitalism . . . A cautionary tale about modern selfishness and efficiency, often chilling, that still manages to end hopefully."
--Kirkus Reviews

"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

"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

About the Author