The Testament of Jessie Lamb, Jane Rogers
The Testament of Jessie Lamb, Jane Rogers
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The Testament of Jessie Lamb
A Novel

Author: Jane Rogers

Narrator: Fiona Hardingham

Unabridged: 8 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/13/2012

Synopsis

A rogue virus that kills pregnant women has been let loose in the world, and nothing less than the survival of the human race is at stake.Some blame the scientists, others see the hand of God, and still others claim that humanity is reaping the punishment it deserves for years of arrogance and destructiveness. Jessie Lamb is an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl living in extraordinary times. As her world collapses, her idealism and courage drive her toward the ultimate act of heroism. Jessie wants her life to make a difference; but is she heroic, or is she, as her scientist father fears, impressionable, innocent, and incapable of understanding where her actions will lead?Set in a world irreparably altered by an act of biological terrorism, The Testament of Jessie Lamb explores a young woman's struggle for independence. As the certainties of her childhood are ripped apart, Jessie begins to question her parents' attitudes, their behavior, and the very world they have bequeathed her.

About Jane Rogers

Jane Rogers has written numerous books, including Her Living Image, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award; Mr. Wroe’s Virgins, a Guardian Fiction Prize runner-up; Promised Lands, winner of the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Fiction Book; Island, long-listed for the Orange Prize; and The Voyage Home. She has written drama for radio and television, including an award-winning adaptation of Mr. Wroe’s Virgins for BBC2. She has taught writing at the University of Adelaide, at the Sorbonne, and on a radio-writing project in eastern Uganda. She is professor of writing at Sheffield Hallam University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives on the edge of the moors in Lancashire, England.

About Fiona Hardingham

Fiona Hardingham is a British-born actress, singer, voice-over artist, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. On stage, she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in her comedic one-woman show The Dark Show. She has also starred in the dark-comedy short film The Ballerino. She earned a BA honors degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, London, and also studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Minty on September 30, 2011

I was intrigued by the premise of the book and felt the author raised some very intriguing issues, none of which was covered in any depth. The first half of the book was quite gripping as the author set up a vivid world which could have gone in any number of challenging and meaningful directions. No......more

Goodreads review by Nicky on May 04, 2012

I don't know what to think about this. The more I think about it, the less sure about it I become: I actually read it more or less in one go, and didn't want to put it down while reading it, but on reflection I'm not sure how convincing I found it or what I really thought of Jessie's decisions. I fo......more

Goodreads review by Ayşenur on December 16, 2021

2014'te kitaba başlamış ama sıkılıp devam edememiştim. O zaman zorla okusam kesin sevmezdim. Şimdi okuduğumda yine biraz sıkıldım ama genel olarak sevdim. Konusu güzeldi ama işleyişi ve anlatımı sıkıcı ve biraz tuhaftı; bazı yerlerde karakter küçük çocuk gibiyken bazı yerlerde yaşlı gibiydi, karakte......more

Goodreads review by Liviu on July 23, 2014

INTRODUCTION: As noted in the recent post discussing novels by Alison Pick, Julian Barnes and Patrick McGuiness, the annual Booker longlist is one the most important sources of books I would probably not hear about otherwise. So when The Testament of Jessie Lamb appeared on the 2011 list, I became ve......more

Goodreads review by William on May 29, 2012

I was hoping for a lot from this book, and was interested after the whole controversy about the Arthur C Clarke award, and it just didn't deliver. Imagine a world where there is a virus, triggered during pregnancy, which destroys the brain of the mother, killing both her and her child. Imagine that y......more

Quotes

“Jane Rogers has captured Jessie’s voice brilliantly, alternating a teenager’s solipsism with a growing awareness of the wider world. Jessie’s self-conviction is both admirable and infuriating, and the reader is torn between her clear, unequivocal conclusions and the intricate, heartfelt compromises of her parents.” Times Literary Supplement (London)

“A wonderful evocation of teenage confusion, passion, and idealism.” Daily Mail (London)

“The novel does not set up an elaborate apocalypse but astringently strips away the smears hiding the apocalypses we really face. Like Jessie’s, it is a small, calm voice of reason in a nonsensical world.” Independent (London)

“An engrossing work of speculative fiction.” Slate

“A powerful dystopian novel…Long-listed for the Booker Prize, Rogers’ mesmerizing tale is frighteningly timely and bound to spark rich book-club discussions.” Booklist

“A great read for teens who like to be provoked, or enjoy books about cutting-edge controversial issues.” School Library Journal

“The Testament of Jessie Lamb is so fully realized and believable, with a voice so familiarly compelling, that the apocalyptic dreamscape of the novel felt more real to me at times than the world I returned to when I put it down to take a breath—which wasn’t often. This is the kind of novel in which one dwells. Unforgettable.” Laura Kasischke, award-winning author

Awards

  • Man Booker Prize
  • Arthur C. Clarke Award
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