The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.
Jacqueline Millender is a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate, and thanks to a generous donation, she’s just become the director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring—she's built a whole brand around rethinking the very concept of empowerment.
Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands her dream job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's instantly swept up into the glamourous world of corporatized feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who is finishing up medical school when Jacqueline recruits her to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something much larger at play.
When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for… most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off. As she, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in Jacqueline's system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly unhinged and dangerous in what she is willing to do—and who she is willing to sacrifice—to keep her dream alive.
At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of white, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn's Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.
Genre: Science Fiction
Jacqueline Millender is a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate, and thanks to a generous donation, she’s just become the director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring—she's built a whole brand around rethinking the very concept of empowerment.
Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands her dream job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's instantly swept up into the glamourous world of corporatized feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who is finishing up medical school when Jacqueline recruits her to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something much larger at play.
When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for… most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off. As she, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in Jacqueline's system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly unhinged and dangerous in what she is willing to do—and who she is willing to sacrifice—to keep her dream alive.
At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of white, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn's Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"Beautiful, tender, and revelatory, this book took my breath away....I read it in one sitting and you will, too. A propulsive masterpiece and a queer reckoning." - Marisa Crane
"Gabrielle Korn expertly weaves together a complex web of characters and texts from various perspectives and times to examine how it is idealism can so easily degrade, the effects of which are claustrophobic and chilling. Written with necessary urgency, Yours for the Taking presents a terrifying vision of the future, yet what courses through its center are the connections that form under these bleak conditions, the love that keeps us living." - Katie M Flynn
"Thrilling... with exquisite worldbuilding and a cast of complicated, multifarious characters, Yours for the Taking is a spectacular saga about the folly of control and the inheritance of that folly." - Michelle Hart
"A gripping page-turner about power and the consequences of inaction. Tender, wise, and achingly true-to-life, it is a haunting look at a possible future that feels entirely of the moment." - Camille Perri
"Gabrielle Korn's debut fiction imagines a world that seems freakishly, frighteningly possible--no doubt because she's done such a fine job of creating characters that are vibrantly alive, and recognizable....A great, contemporary take on the classic what-would-an-all-female-society-look-like genre, full of suspense and fair warning." - Michelle Tea
"Stunning... a bracing, exhilarating read." - Esmé Weijun Wang
"Gabrielle Korn expertly weaves together a complex web of characters and texts from various perspectives and times to examine how it is idealism can so easily degrade, the effects of which are claustrophobic and chilling. Written with necessary urgency, Yours for the Taking presents a terrifying vision of the future, yet what courses through its center are the connections that form under these bleak conditions, the love that keeps us living." - Katie M Flynn
"Thrilling... with exquisite worldbuilding and a cast of complicated, multifarious characters, Yours for the Taking is a spectacular saga about the folly of control and the inheritance of that folly." - Michelle Hart
"A gripping page-turner about power and the consequences of inaction. Tender, wise, and achingly true-to-life, it is a haunting look at a possible future that feels entirely of the moment." - Camille Perri
"Gabrielle Korn's debut fiction imagines a world that seems freakishly, frighteningly possible--no doubt because she's done such a fine job of creating characters that are vibrantly alive, and recognizable....A great, contemporary take on the classic what-would-an-all-female-society-look-like genre, full of suspense and fair warning." - Michelle Tea
"Stunning... a bracing, exhilarating read." - Esmé Weijun Wang
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