n novel by P. D. James
that was published in 1992. Set in England in 2021, it centres on the results of mass infertility
. James describes a United Kingdom
that is steadily depopulating and focuses on a small group of resisters who do not share the disillusionment of the masses.
The book received very positive reviews from many critics such as Caryn James of The New York Times
, who called it "wonderfully rich" and "a trenchant analysis of politics and power that speaks urgently".
The narrative voice for the novel alternates between the third person and the first person, the latter in the form of a diary kept by Dr.
"If from infancy you treat children as gods they are liable in adulthood to act as devils."
"I knew that what I had felt was envy or regret, not for something lost but for something never achieved."
"Use some reverence. Remember what he was only a minute ago. You wouldn't have dared laid a hand on him."
"Darling, you can't promise that...but I like to hear you say it."
"I didn't love him, but I liked him being in love with me.."
"When my turn comes I propose to take my lethal capsule comfortably in bed at home and preferably on my own."
"Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not Governments. When governments are generous it is with other people's money, other people's safety, other people's future."
"Whatever else I am now, I'm never bored."
"I'm not a tyrant, but I can't afford to be merciful. Whatever it is necessary to do, I will do it."
"Perhaps His experiment went spectacularly wrong, sir. Perhaps He's just baffled. Seeing the mess, not knowing how to put it right. Perhaps not wanting to put it right. Perhaps He only had enough power left for one final intervention. So He made it. Whoever He is, whatever He is, I hope he burns in His own Hell."