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A compulsive, brilliant novel about race, class, family and power for fans of Celeste Ng, Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman

About the Author

Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a BA from Princeton University. After working in investment banking and private-equity investing for several years, she wrote for the Economist as a staff writer. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children. This is her first novel.

Reviews

This topical, provocative debut anatomises class, race and the American dream * Guardian *
An intelligent, thought-provoking, slyly satirical novel with thrillerish elements, it is also affectingly illuminating about life for an expatriate service class * Sunday Times *
If you only read a single debut this year, make it The Farm * Vogue, Must-Reads *
It's so now ... Ramos has crafted a real page-turner that combines all the hottest issues of the day: inequality, race, and women's battle to reclaim their bodies from commodification by big business, with the eternal questions of how much we can sacrifice before losing ourselves completely * The Times *
Her book is a necessary one - we need a mass-market novel that shows the impact of colonisation ... A great read * Guardian *
Utterly brilliant. I couldn't put it down!
Crammed with acutely observed scenes that place reproduction within an intricate web of class, gender and race * Observer *
For those who can't wait until September for Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, here's a handy interim stand-in. Class, race and issues of power inequality are on the agenda almost as much as gender in this novel about a fertility clinic where surrogates have babies for the ultra-wealthy * i paper *
Excellent ... With echoes of The Help and The Handmaid's Tale, The Farm is tipped to be one of the biggest books of the summer, a page-turner which strikes an entertaining balance between exploring topical issues and telling a great story with thoroughly likeable characters * Daily Express *
An intelligent, thought-provoking, slyly satirical novel with thrillerish elements, it is also affectingly illuminating about life for an expatriate service class * SUNDAY TIMES *
You can't move for feminist dystopias in these Atwoodian times. Joanne Ramos's debut is one of the best * The Times *
Intelligent and finely written ... Powerful * I PAPER *
A narrative resembling a cross between Rosemary's Baby and Dave Eggers's tech thriller The Circle ... Addictive, thought-provoking entertainment * Daily Mail *
An easy read that raises difficult, capital-I issues ... There's plenty to unsettle here * Mail on Sunday *
A new Handmaid's Tale * Sun *
It's a provocative idea, and Ramos nails it ... Crisp and believable, this smart debut links the poor and the 1 percent in a unique transaction that turns out to be mutually rewarding * People *
Chillingly plausible
Couldn't be more relevant or timely * O Magazine *
Unnervingly plausible * Economist *
Everything has a price in this promising and compelling dystopian debut * Red, This Month's Best Books *
Billed as the new Handmaid's Tale, Joanne Ramos's debut follows a luxury yet terrifying retreat for surrogate mothers * Grazia *
Ramos is good at making the dystopian feel contemporary, or perhaps that should be the other way round ... Ramos's debut smuggles a sharp attack on America's entrenched inequality into a Handmaid's Tale-style chiller about surrogacy * Metro *
An excoriation of capitalist exploitation, for dystopian darkness and sinister consequences ... Timely, resonant, morally complex * Literary Review *
Brilliantly cutting
A knock-out debut novel
Wow ... Truly unforgettable
It's a provocative idea, and Ramos nails it ... Crisp and believable, this smart debut links the poor and the 1 percent in a unique transaction that turns out to be mutually rewarding * People *
Joanne Ramos' tender, trenchant debut chillingly explores a dystopian future where race, class, power and poverty all play their part in paid-for pregnancies * Psychologies *
One of the most hotly anticipated debuts this year - and for good reason * Cosmopolitan *
Smart and thought-provoking * Stylist *
An unsettling, unputdownable read * Elle *
The first debut of 2019 to grab the top spot for me ... Don't miss this one * Bookseller, Book of the Month *
The Farm terrifies with a simple question: How much of ourselves are we willing to sell? With characters so real they leap off the page, Ramos yanks the reader into a world of Haves and Have-Nots, and her question lingers long after we turn the final page
Amazing. It's hard to explain what The Farm is about, because it's about everything a book SHOULD be about. Race and class and power and inequality, and it's dark & funny ALL AT THE SAME TIME
Ramos has written a firecracker of a novel, at once caustic and tender, page-turning and thought-provoking. This is a fierce indictment of the vampiric nature of modern capitalism, which never loses sight of the very human stories at its center. Highly recommended
The debut to order now ... Think Never Let Me Go meets The Handmaid's Tale * Sunday Times *
A highly original and provocative story about the impossible choices in so many women's lives. These characters will stay with me for a long time
Consider this The Handmaid's Tale of 2019 ... In the vein of The Circle, but somehow more penetrating and realistic * MARIE CLAIRE *
Ramos creates a believable dystopian future where poor women try to make money and change their societal standing by offering up their bodies to house and deliver healthy babies for the rich. The novel alternates perspectives between four women and provides notes on fundamental inequalities * EVENING STANDARD *
Excellent, both as a reproductive dystopian narrative and as a social novel about women and class * KIRKUS *
A delicately paced and finely wrought tale ... A biting critique of the world's inequalities ... Moving, ethically complex and gripping, The Farm is a great novel * Herald *
Compelling ... Will really make you think * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *
It reads like a thriller but it is hard-hitting about race, money and inequality * BEST *
We loved this book * TAKE A BREAK *
Joanne Ramos's tender, trenchant debut chillingly explores a dystopian future where race, class, power and poverty all play their part in paid-for pregnancies * PSYCHOLOGIES *
Unnervingly plausible * ECONOMIST *