Family Circle
Exile
By Lisa M. Bradley
24 May, 2019
Doing What the WFC Cannot Do
Lisa M. Bradley’s 2019 debut novel Exile is a standalone near-future novel.
Leaking chemicals have affected the inhabitants of a previously unremarkable Texan town. Impulse controls have been shredded; psychosis and violence are rampant. The federal government’s response? Quarantine the community (now renamed Exile) and supply necessities. Exiles can only leave town if they can demonstrate that they are 4‑S: strong, smart, sane, and sterile.
Protagonist Heidi Palermo is determined to leave. She’s 3‑S: strong, smart, and sterile. As for sanity … compared to the rest of her family she’s sane. That’s not sane enough for the government.