Dreamland: An Evening Standard 'Best New Book' of 2021

For fans of Children of Men , Years and Years & Station Eleven , a postcard from a future Britain that's closer than we think. 'A beautiful book: thought-provoking, eerily prescient and very witty.' Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half 'Water courses through its pages, as rising sea levels heighten inequalities, buoy populist politicians and wash away every certainty of civilisation. But there's also the novel's prose – its liquid grace and glinting sparkle – and the sheer irresistibility of a narrative that sweeps along with a force that feels tidal in its pull.' The Observer ' 'You said that you would come back. You looked me in the eye and said that. Well, if you had, this is what you would have seen: soft wood, black cracks, fridges in the road. The broken spines of old rides at Dreamland.' In the coastal resort of Margate, hotels lie empty and sun-faded 'For Sale' signs line the streets. The sea is higher – it's higher everywhere – and those who can are moving inland. A young girl called Chance, however, is just arriving. Chance's family is one of many offered a cash grant to move out of London - and so she, her mother Jas and brother JD relocate to the seaside, just as the country edges towards vertiginous change. In their new home, they find space and wide skies, a world away from the cramped bedsits they've lived in up until now. But challenges swiftly mount. JD's business partner, Kole, has a violent, charismatic energy that whirlpools around him and threatens to draw in the whole family. And when Chance comes across Franky, a girl her age she has never seen before – well-spoken and wearing sunscreen – something catches in the air between them. Their fates are bound: a connection that is immediate, unshakeable, and, in a time when social divides have never cut sharper, dangerous. Set in a future unsettlingly close to home, against a backdrop of soaring inequality and creeping political extremism, Rankin-Gee demonstrates, with cinematic pace and deep humanity, the enduring power of love and hope in a world spinning out of control. Chance is born four years from now, in a London close to home - where social divides are deepening, and climate change is playing its hand. Chance, her mother and brother are moved from cramped hotel room to cramped hotel room in emergency accommodation. Until a right-wing foundation funding 're-locations' gives the family a cash grant to move out of London, to the seaside town of Margate. Margate - famous for Turner sunsets and rollercoaster-ish highs and lows - has changed. The down-from-Londoners have moved back to the city, sun-curled For Sale signs litter the streets, hotels are empty. And the sea is higher. It's higher everywhere. As London distances itself from the rest of the country, Chance builds a home in Margate - navigating a turbulent relationship with her mother's new boyfriend Kole, looking after her new baby brother Blue, and breaking into abandoned houses with her best friend Davey. Chance is about to meet a girl who couldn't be more different to her - and she's about to fall in love in a way that will change her world, and her understanding of the world around her, forever. Taking place over the next 20 years, Dreamland is a unique post-Brexit Brit-stopia - a state of the nation novel which paints a recognisable and all-too-believable close future of Britain based on social policies already in play. Set against a backdrop of rising populism, austerity and a creeping mainstreaming of social engineering and eugenics, Dreamland is a story of love, loss, friendship, adventure, and, against all odds, hope "In the coastal resort of Margate, hotels lie empty and sun-faded 'For Sale' signs line the streets. The sea is higher - it's higher everywhere - and those who can are moving inland. A young girl called Chance, however, is just arriving. Chance's family is one of many offered a cash grant to move out of London - and so she, her mother Jas and brother JD relocate to the seaside, just as the country edges towards vertiginous change. In their new home, they find space and wide skies, a world away from the cramped bedsits they've lived in up until now. But challenges swiftly mount. JD's business partner, Kole, has a violent, charismatic energy that whirlpools around him and threatens to draw in the whole family. And when Chance comes across Franky, a girl her age she has never seen before - well-spoken and wearing sunscreen - something catches in the air between them. Their fates are bound: a connection that is immediate, unshakeable, and, in a time when social divides have never cut sharper, dangerous."--Publisher