
The Family Experiment
ABOUT
THE BOOK
The world’s population is soaring and, in the UK, breaking point has arrived with many people unable to start families let alone raise them. Those desperate to experience parenthood have an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they access via the metaverse and VR headset. To launch their new initiative, Virtual Children has created a reality tv show called ‘The Substitute’, following ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to eighteen, in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child – or risk it all for the chance of a real baby.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
We feel this particular book does not fit within any usual genre. Based in the same work Marrs’ previous books have introduced us to, it’s set in the very near future and presents a world that is frighteningly plausible. The very personal subject matter makes the reader think about their own morals and values, in relation to others we share the world with. Very though provoking.