The Meadows

Praise

★ “This beautiful and important book is dystopian YA at its finest, and its themes of queer resilience and community will resonate for many years to come.” —BCCB (starred review)

“[One of] the best YA novels hitting shelves . . . More necessary and timely than ever. This story of state-run schools in a post-climate disaster world that teach select young women to be perfect wives and mothers to help repopulate society doesn’t feel as alien—or far away—as it once might have. Timely and thoughtful.” —Paste Magazine

★ In the style of Kazuo Ishiguro, details [are] dabbled out in tiny, delicious morsels and flashbacks . . . The writing is painterly, yet tight; the book ties up every detail . . . A haunting dystopian amalgamation for the 21st century. Superlative, powerful, and timely. —School Library Journal (starred review)

★ “Oakes employs evocative prose and worldbuilding shot through with equal parts melancholy and hope to craft an intelligent dystopian tale that proves a biting interpretation of contemporary issues surrounding conversion therapy, homophobia, misogyny, and racism.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The Meadows is built with extraordinary parts—stunning language, complex characters, and the most exquisite heart. It’s a stop-you-in-your-tracks book, a reach-inside-and-grab-you book. I love its beating, beaming essence—that we are all good, and deserving of love, just as we are. A story of pain, injustice, love, resistance, and hope, this glorious book will lodge inside you and make you feel everything.” —Helena Fox, award-winning author of How It Feels to Float and The Quiet and the Loud

“Gripping . . . A YA Handmaid’s Tale [that] toggles seamlessly between past and present. [For] readers who enjoy dystopian books with feminist themes and stories that highlight the power of queer community.” —Booklist“

Cogent and incisive in its remarks on our present world, [The Meadows is] timely and gripping, [with] tension at a constant simmer and a new revelation always around the corner.” —Kirkus Reviews

“I was utterly swept away from page one. Atmospheric and unsettling, The Meadows is a dystopia that belongs in every collection. This is an incisive examination of the quiet violence of conversion therapies and the revolutionary power of self-love.” —Natalie C. Parker, award-winning author of the Seafire series

“A profound story with fantastic writing that will be a great companion-read to classics like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. And once you have finished reading it, do go back and read The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly [by Stephanie Oakes], which also tackles a lot of important discussions about what it means to be a teen girl in our world.” —Teen Librarian Toolbox

“The Meadows is a book that I cannot prise out of my head. This is one spilling over with emotions: anger, sadness, and a tiny kernel of hope. It is a quietly devastating book, [and] Eleanor is a protagonist like no other. She has a fierce passion and desire to be loved and accepted, but it is veiled beneath years of programming and a paranoia from a world determined to squash her. . . . The narrative structure of moving between then and now—within the Meadows and outside—allows [for] hints beyond this dystopian reality [to] the dangers of climate change. Oakes’ writing is incredibly captivating. Every page carries a keen sense of urgency and suspense . . . Sometimes a book just makes you ache. The Meadows is one of those books.” —The Nerd Daily