Elzwhere press

BOOK DESCRIPTION

New York in 2057—a metropolis divided. Sheltered by seawalls, Manhattan is green, clean, and thriving, while the eastern boroughs have been given up to the hurricanes and the rising Atlantic. But no one is safe in a world of cascading disasters causing a global scarcity of medical drugs, food, and other essentials for survival.

Shavir Tayard, barista and urban community farmer by day, rescuer of animals by night, sustains an injury that changes her relationship with the cute regular at her coffee shop—and her life.

Jake Alvaro is a troubled Homeland Security agent tasked with securing critical medical drugs for New York in a world running out of everything. His view of whose lives must be saved and who can be sacrificed is challenged when Shavir takes him across the East River to the people he was told to ignore. Soon, he begins to question the fragile truths he built his life upon.

Set in a divided near-future New York, Fragile tells a story of commitment and connection against all odds.

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PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK

“This striking fiction debut sets a character-rich story of connection and political awakening in a dystopian future New York where Manhattan and Brooklyn are behind seawalls and the Earth has been ravaged by climate change and resource scarcity.”—BOOKLIFE (full review)

“At the heart of this thought-provoking novel are two damaged people trying to build a relationship while working at cross purposes to help society amid dealing with a broken system’s inequities… An engrossing book that holds out hope despite all the mistakes made by humans.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS (full review)

“Weik von Mossner’s gripping novel hits the target on the most urgent problems of scale that come with climate change. Global ecological crises and disrupted supply lines are part of Jake Alvaro’s everyday job routine: securing medications for urban hospitals saves the lives of New Yorkers, but kills people elsewhere. His personal life turns upside down when he realizes that inequality and injustice exist close by, not just in far-away countries on the other side of the globe, and that they involve other species as well as humans. Fragile takes climate fiction to a new level: a fast-paced, suspenseful must-read for anyone interested in our planet’s future.” —URSULA K. HEISE, Author of Imagining Extinction

“Superb climate fiction in a dystopian future New York. A thrilling debut, highly recommended for fans of Emily St. John Mandel and Ling Ma.”—MARKET GARDEN READER (full review)

“A compelling near-future dystopia about climate collapse and helping the vulnerable survive.”—INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW (full review)

“Fragile is a thriller through and through. In addition to being a cautionary tale of climate disaster and continued non-human animal exploitation, it has sections worthy of any American action film; romance, police chases, underground resistance, and governmental sabotage. Yet, despite the plethora of genre conventions, Fragile somehow never feels preachy or cliche. A solid, complex page-turner, Alexa Weik von Mossner’s Fragile is worth the read.”—TOFU READER (full review)

“Alexa Weik von Mossner’s debut novel is, by turns, thrilling, thoughtful, romantic, terrifying, and imaginative. Pick Fragile up at your own peril—I promise that you won’t want to put it down.”—KAREEM TAYYAR, Author of The Prince of Orange County

“Fragile is a scarily topical tale of what soon may come to be in our fast-changing world. And it’s also a moving love story between two people from opposite sides of the track, both trying desperately to save the world they love. I read it with huge enjoyment.—SUSANNAH WATERS, Author of Cold Comfort

“One of the most exciting elements is how visual this near-future version of New York is, split between being greener, with less cars and gardens and plants everywhere, while also half the city has been swept under water.” —THE BLACK LIST