Any Human Power

A visionary, speculative novel for a critical moment in time; a multi-generation family of dreamers and gamers find themselves at the heart of a political uprising that might just change the world.

‘Manda Scott will change your mind with this visionary novel’

Audrey Tang

‘One of our best, most challenging authors is back’

Ian Rankin

When Lan’s granddaughter posts a furious message about online harm and hypocrisy that goes viral, her words trigger an internet pile-on to silence her.

She and her family are forced to make a choice: retreat from the toxic mess that’s wrecking our world or take a stand and fight for a better future. Only this most unlikely group of change makers, with its intergenerational mix of ancient wisdom and hi-tech savviness, has the vision to derail the capitalist status quo and make a lasting change to the system.

Grand in scope and rich in courageous characters, here is a dream of a better future: a world that has learnt from the past, that we’d be proud to leave to our children.

Dream deeply. Rise up strong. Change is coming…

‘Instantly immersive and compelling, rich and strange, human and humane, and most of all inspiring … an extraordinary story.’

Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels

 

‘Any Human Power has the feel of a book that’s landed at just the right moment … Scott’s imagination has brought forth a radical manifesto, a holistic ideal in which seeing oneself in relation to eternity matters just as much as housing or transport policies, and she’s done it in a way that makes it seem as though it’s only five minutes in the future.’

Herald

 

‘Any Human Power is a polemical thriller like no other, an absorbing manifesto to change the world. It constantly surprises. Manda Scott’s characters play havoc with your emotions, her narrative keeps you turning the pages, and her ideas might just change your life.’

Andrew Taylor, author of The Shadows of London

 

‘Manda Scott is an unmissable, visionary author and has created a compelling political thriller that inspires belief in the possibility of a better future. Born of dreams, Any Human Power is a dream read.’

Adam Hamdy, author of The Other Side of Night

 

‘An astonishing novel, at once powerfully contemporary and mythopoeic. Of its many achievements, the greatest is giving a sense that there is a way forward from our current predicament: the creative gift of hope.’

Oliver Harris, author of The Shame Archive

 

‘Any Human Power is an extraordinary, ground-breaking, high-wire act of a novel, which vividly evokes not just why our world is at breaking-point, but how a single nation could be quickly and radically transformed in a way that scales up to encompass the globe. I wasn’t just gripped all the way through, but moved, uplifted and energised by Scott’s wild, vast, brave and tangible vision of the possible. If you care about the future of life on Earth, this is the novel for you.’

Liz Jensen, author of Your Wild and Precious Life

 

‘I loved the mix of fantasy and myth … A hugely entertaining read with compelling characters, elegant prose and a story where we really want to find out what happens.’

Fantasy Hive

 

‘Hopeful, engaging, heartfelt, imaginative …’

Rozie Apps, editor of Permaculture Magazine