The Quickening

Trade Paperback

Your body. Their Choice.

Great Britain, 2040. The Hope Party is in power, and their Future Generations laws have transformed the nation: the countryside is being rewilded, immigration curtailed, and births on the rise. But beneath the surface of this new order, freedom is fading.

Karen has learned to navigate this new world. A devoted wife to Tom, whose legal career thrives while hers has stalled, and a mother to seventeen-year-old twins, Rory and Charlotte. Charlotte is destined for Oxford, her future bright - until she reveals a life-changing secret: she's pregnant.

With abortion now outlawed, Karen faces a terrifying choice. She refuses to let her daughter's dreams crumble, but seeking an abortion is fraught with danger. If they're discovered, Charlotte would disappear into 'Protective Custody', a chilling fate shrouded in mystery.

In desperation, Karen turns to her sister Isobel, a gynaecologist working under the new regime. Isobel is reluctant to help at first, but when Charlotte's pregnancy is revealed to be ectopic - and life-threatening - the stakes skyrocket. Their only hope: an illegal journey to Ireland, where the laws are less draconian, but every step is shadowed by surveillance. As Charlotte's case grabs national headlines, the three women must rely on secret resistance networks to survive - and fight back.

Quicken is a powerful exploration of motherhood, sacrifice, and the terrifying cost of complicity in a world where freedom is the ultimate rebellion. For fans of Vox, Red Clocks, and The Handmaid's Tale.