Set in a chilling vision of the near-future in which the US has gone into economic meltdown, The Mandibles may have a dystopian feel, but author Lionel Shriver has insisted that “it isn’t sci-fi.” Normally, it would be difficult to comprehend her point of view, but given that Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican party nominee for the US Presidential election, Shriver’s assertion makes perfect sense.
The story is centred on the titular family, who are set to inherit a fortune from their 97-year-old patriarch, until the dollar comes under siege from a new international currency.
Unsurprisingly, Shriver gets great comedic mileage out of the American political landscape – in one hilarious scenario, Mexico is forced to build a wall to keep out US economic migrants – and the book works both as a black comedy and cautionary tale. Indeed, The Mandibles might just be the first great novel of the (hopefully shortlived) Trump era.