
When Dorrit Weger arrives at the Unit, she resigns herself to this fate, seeking only peace in her final days. It's an idyllic place, but there's a catch: the residents?known as dispensables?must donate their organs, one by one, until the final donation. They're given lavish apartments set amongst beautiful gardens and state-of-the-art facilities they're fed elaborate gourmet meals, surrounded by others just like them. Ninni Holmqvist's uncanny dystopian novel envisions a society in the not-so-distant future, where women over fifty and men over sixty who are unmarried and childless are sent to a retirement community called the Unit. "Echoing work by Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, The Unit is as thought-provoking as it is compulsively readable." ?Jessica Crispin, NPR.org Photo: Cover of the Persian edition of Ninni Holmqvist’s novel “The Unit”."I enjoyed The Unit very much.I know you will be riveted, as I was." ?Margaret Atwood on TwitterĪ modern day classic and a chilling cautionary tale for fans of The Handmaid's Tale. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and… well, then what? She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.īut when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation.ĭespite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended.

Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty-single, childless and without jobs in progressive industries – are sequestered for their final few years they are considered outsiders. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state-of-the-art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material.

Shurafarin is the publisher of the book translated by Hengameh Nahid.

TEHRAN – “The Unit”, Swedish writer Ninni Holmqvist’s dystopian novel, has been published in Persian.
