The Hush
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Published: October 2021
Genre: Fiction, Literary Fiction
The Hush is set in a post-Covid era Britain struggling to recover from the social and economic crisis of the virus amidst escalating climate concerns, including rising sea levels and floods. All citizens are subject to daily screenings and health checks via checkpoints and smartwatches. The country is also grappling with a new, horrifying crisis. Maternity wards are battling what has been dubbed Intrapartum X; babies are dying shortly after birth, and no one knows why.
Seventeen-year-old Lainey is in her final year of school. Her main concerns are around avoiding the school bully, Liam, the compulsory community service she’ll have to do after her exams and keeping the three baby chicks she’s rescued alive.
That is until she discovers she’s pregnant.
Amidst escalating rumours and conspiracy theories around why babies are dying, pregnant teenagers are also going missing. Lainey, her midwife mother Emma, straight-talking grandmother Geraldine, and a cast of other empowering female characters must race against the clock to uncover dark political schemes, coercive regimes, and dangerous experiments before it’s too late.
Sara Foster’s latest novel is an incredibly fast-paced dystopian thriller with threads of 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale woven through its very contemporary narrative. It will have you holding your breath with anticipation until the very last page.