Photo: Courtesy of publisher

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The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047
416 pages; Harper
In a Brooklyn soon to be, the upper-middle-class Mandible family copes with extreme water and food shortages, rampant homelessness, and an economy in meltdown. Tracing her characters' varying responses to the emergency, Shriver deftly blends parable and satire with today's headlines, creating a nightmarish world that looms just over the horizon.