A haunting, provocative novel, You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a
fictional autobiography in an alternate twentieth century that
chronicles one woman's unusual life, including the price she pays to
survive and the cost her choices hold for the society she is trying to
save.
Born at the end of the old world, Miriam grows up during The Great
Reckoning, a sprawling, decades-long war that nearly decimates humanity
and strips her of friends and family. Devastated by grief and
loneliness, she emotionally exiles herself, avoiding relationships or
allegiances, and throws herself into her work--disengagement that serves
her when the war finally ends, and The New Society arises.
To ensure a lasting peace, The New Society forbids anything that may
cause tribal loyalties, including traditional families. Suddenly,
everyone must live as Miriam has chosen to--disconnected and unattached.
A researcher at heart, Miriam becomes involved in implementing this
detachment process. She does not know it is the beginning of a darkly
sinister program that will transform this new world and the lives of
everyone in it. Eventually, the harmful effects of her research become
too much for Miriam, and she devises a secret plan to destroy the system
from within, endangering her own life.
But is her "confession" honest--or is it a fabrication riddled with lies
meant to conceal the truth?
A jarring and uncanny tale of loss, trauma, and the power of human
connection and deception, You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a
portrait of a disturbing alternate world eerily within reach, and an
examination of the difficult choices we must make to survive in it.
