The Pledge - by G Z Schmidt (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Tender, strange, funny, and human." --Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This is a Love Story

"As eerily prescient as it is entertaining . . . And that ending? So perfect, I wept." --Ling Ling Huang, award-winning author of Natural Beauty

A mind-bending, heart-bursting, and wholly original take on what it means to love, to lose, and to value those around us, The Pledge is a remarkable exploration of how to live well, even when everything around us seems lost.

In an alternate timeline, every New Year's Day, the entire population receives The List. If your name is Listed, you have less than twelve months to live. Except, you can escape this fate -- if at least ten people are willing to pledge in your stead and vouch that you are valuable to society. This is the story of one family's Listing, and the extraordinary ways that it sets them free.

Em has never been considered pledgeworthy. Aimless and interested in useless subjects like Shakespeare, she lives quietly in the shadow of her younger and more prodigious brother, Jay. Then, one day, she meets N, a gifted violinist with a singular ambition, who also happens to be Jay's rival orchestra stand partner. To Jay's great displeasure, Em and N become quick friends, and, slowly, their relationship grows into the sweet, tender thing that makes first loves great. Until it all falls apart when N disappears.

A decade later, Em works at a powerful campaign firm that secures pledges for the elite. At the start of the new year, Jay gets Listed, and Em knows her mother will expect her to secure his pledges. Except she and Jay have barely spoken in years. And when Em is assigned to work on the pledge campaign for a high-profile client who reveals a strange connection to N, Em finds herself distracted, fixating on the past--and the role her brother may have had in N's disappearance.

At once a striking family love story and an empowering illumination of the paths we choose to pave, The Pledge is an indelible portrait of connection, identity, value, and hope, and the beautiful redemption that comes with taking charge of your life, once and for all.

Review Quotes

"A good kind of weird! The Pledge takes an unnerving premise and turns it into something tender, strange, funny, and human. A novel about art and obsession, usefulness and uselessness, and the big bad question of what makes a life valuable to begin with." --Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This is a Love Story

"Unsettling and nuanced, visionary and poignant, The Pledge is a startling examination of our individual worth in a near future world, written with great emotional depth. Schmidt raises challenging questions about our values and life choices, while showing us that even in a dystopia, the human instinct to love and be loved is eternal." --Ilona Bannister, bestselling author of Five

"As eerily prescient as it is entertaining, The Pledge portrays the horror of a society that values the pursuit of economic worth over life, liberty, and certainly, happiness. Beneath this crackling satire is a powerfully beating heart. And that ending? So perfect, I wept." --Ling Ling Huang, award-winning author of Natural Beauty

"The Pledge is a haunting Ishiguro-esque exploration of merit and the value of human life as populations rise and resources dwindle. Both a compelling thought experiment and a devastating portrait of real love and loss; it will grip you until the end and won't let you go afterwards." --Jo Harkin, author of Tell Me an Ending

"Beautifully wrought, pulsing with notes of the real-life influence behind a fascinating moral question--how to quantify the value of one life compared with another--G.Z. Schmidt's The Pledge is an unforgettable novel of family, justice, and what we owe to each other." --Jinwoo Chong, author of I Leave It Up to You and Flux

About the Author

G.Z. Schmidt is a California-based writer with three published novels for children. Her books have gotten starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, SLJ, and have been named to Best Book of the Year lists by the New York Public Library and Entertainment Weekly.