** They leave us no choice._
_
AS FEATURED ON BBC.COM. A 2018 DEBUT TO WATCH OUT FOR AS SELECTED BY INDEPENDENT , GRAZIA , THE BOOKSELLER AND THE RUMPUS AND AN ELLE, STYLIST AND I MAGAZINE RECOMMENDED SUMMER READ.
'Original and subversive.' Independent
'Thought-provoking, moving, worryingly convincing - and ultimately hopeful.' Irish Times
'A provocative new author. A fascinating debut novel. Read it!' Jeff VanderMeer , author of the Southern Reach trilogy
'Life-affirming . . . "Be careful what you wish for" has never been so chilling, or so gripping' Erin Kelly , author of He Said/She Said
What are you doing to help yourself? What are you doing to show that you're worth the resources?
****In a near-future world, medical technology has progressed far enough that immortality is now within grasp -but only to those who show themselves to be deserving of it. These people are the lifers: the exercisers, yogacisers, green juicers and early nighters.
Genetically perfect, healthy and wholesome, one hundred-year-old Lea is the poster girl for lifers, until the day she catches a glimpse of her father in the street, eighty-eight years after their last encounter. While pursuing him, Lea has a brush with death which sparks suspicions. If Lea could be so careless, is she worthy of immortality?
Suicide Club wasn't always an activist group. It began as a set of disillusioned lifers, gathering to indulge in forbidden activities: performances of live music, artery-clogging meals, irresponsible orgies. But now they have been branded terrorists and are hunted by the state.
And Lea has decided to give them a call.
'Chilling . . . Through crisscrossing stories about love and loss, suffused in some wonderful and heartbreaking prose, she takes the reader on a journey to truly understand the question: who wants to live forever?'Stylist
'Addictive'Sun
'Gripping'Red
'Clever, bold and makes you think about the value of life'*Good Housekeeping *
'The future is here. Let's welcome one of its stars. Talented and ferociously intelligent, Heng has produced a glittering debut.' Joanna Briscoe , author of*You *
'If the styling is satirical . . . Heng isn't playing for laughs . . . the fascinating and compelling scenario on show here ultimately forces you to question nothing less than the meaning of life' Metro
**
Review
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**"Part critique of the American cult of wellness, part glittering future with a nightmare undercurrent, Suicide Club is nothing if not deeply imaginative and timely."
**―**The Millions
"Clever, bold and makes you think about the value of life."
_―* * Good Housekeeping**_
"What if immortality fueled the economy and a government agency created an algorithm that decides who lives forever―and who doesn’t? That’s the creepy world Rachel Heng constructs in SUICIDE CLUB, a dark novel where the systems of human inequality feel unsettlingly close to current reality."
―Bitch Media
"SUICIDE CLUB is an original and subversive exploration of health obsessions, consumptions, and what makes life worth living."
*―The Independent *
"A refreshingly original debut."
―Book Riot
" SUICIDE CLUB is a novel of ideas where issues of eugenics and euthanasia are treated sensitively by the author, in a way that recalls Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go , or more recently, The Power by Naomi Alderman."
*―The Irish Times *
"What is the value of life if it never ends? A feat of blazing imagination, Rachel Heng's SUICIDE CLUB is a thought-provoking look at a near-future society that feels a quarter-turn away from ours. Heng's storytelling gleams, but this novel doesn't shy away from darkness--thank goodness."
― *Kelly Luce, author of Pull Me Under* **
“How can such a young writer know all these things? Rachel Heng’s first novel is as keen as a sharpened blade. SUICIDE CLUB is on the money about where our current obsessions are leading us and yet she makes us care about her characters in deep and old-fashioned ways. It reminded me again and again of Orwell and Huxley. I have the feeling that this is the beginning of a long and illustrious career.”
**―**James Magnuson
“I happily lost a whole weekend to SUICIDE CLUB. This life-affirming book about death lingers long after the last page. ‘Be careful what you wish for’ has never been so chilling, or so gripping.”
_―* *Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said**_
"SUICIDE CLUB bends genre with grace and artistry, delivering us to the outermost reaches of what's familiar and affirming what dares to still exist there: family, friendship, and forgiveness. With superb writing, Rachel Heng has crafted a world inside of a world gone mad, one where love faces its most difficult test. This is an exciting, bold, inventive novel."
*―Kristen Iskandrian, author of Motherest *
“The future is here. Let's welcome one of its stars. Talented and ferociously intelligent, Heng has produced a glittering debut.”
*―Joanna Briscoe, author of You *
“In exquisitely crafted prose, Rachel Heng gives us a startling look at a version of the world that seems simultaneously wild and plausible. Heng is a bold new talent and a writer to watch.”
―Liz Moore, author of Heft and The Unseen World**
* "A Dorian Gray nightmare of a future where the sought-after beauty is barely even skin deep, SUICIDE CLUB is a subversive celebration of life. It makes us consider what’s actually valuable, and what ‘healthy living’ really means. I love novels that tackle this sort of subject matter, and this is one that glitters, darkly."
―Nick Clark Windo, author of _The Feed _
_***_
__ "I am in awe of the deeply disturbing yet utterly convincing world Heng manages to create. I loved the book's central message: the beauty in imperfection, the importance of letting go. I loved the flawed and fearsome central characters...SUICIDE CLUB is a bold and brilliant book."
_―* *Francesca Jakobi, author of Bitter**_
"I always love novels that can combine powerful writing with massive levels of compassion and heart, and SUICIDE CLUB is one such book. Its genre-straddling dark heart can't fail to impress."
_―* *James Smythe, author of The Machine and The Testimony**_
"Heng expertly threads a ribbon of dread through her glittering vistas and gleaming characters...[This is] a complicated and promising debut that spoofs the current health culture craze even as it anticipates its appalling culmination."
*―Kirkus *
"Fans of modern speculative fiction and readers who love stories that warn us to be careful what we wish for will be enthralled by Heng's highly imaginative debut, which deftly asks, "What does it really mean to be alive?"
**― Library Journal , starred review **
About the Author
Rachel Heng’s fiction has won Prairie Schooner's Jane Geske Award and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. An extract from Suicide Club was included in The Huffington Post's "15 Stellar Short Stories You Can Read Online" list. She graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Comparative Literature & Society and Economics and is currently a James A. Michener Fellow at the Michener Center for Writers, UT Austin.