Plum Rains

A 2019 Sunburst Award Winner for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic
A Book Riot Best Book of 2018

Praise for Plum Rains

“In Plum Rains, the world that Romano-Lax engineers is a character in itself, impossibly complex and daunting in its believability.”
—The Paris Review

“In a future Japan where the elderly vastly outnumber their caretakers, artificial intelligences are used to fill the gaps. The AI in Plum Rains spur fascinating questions about care, altruism and the nature of connection. Romano-Lax uses history and culture to draw a direct line to our tech imaginings. Plum Rains leaves you wondering if it’s possible for an AI to be better at humanity than humans.”
—PEOPLE Magazine

“​Plum Rains is a blistering social commentary of what the not-so-distant future of the world’s fastest-ageing society will look like—told with quiet contemplation and a lot of heart.​”
—The Straits Times​

“A masterpiece . . . This brilliant, character-driven novel examines individual reactions to threats to survival and autonomy . . . all too relevant to our present-day world.”
—Sunburst Award Committee

“​In this profoundly inquisitive and compelling novel, Romano-Lax sets timeless human dilemmas involving love, racism, misogyny, violence, grief, and dissent against environmental decimation, the daunting ethical questions raised by burgeoning AI, and consideration of the very future of humanity.”
—Booklist, Starred Review ​
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“Andromeda Romano-Lax’s near-future novel, Plum Rains, gracefully explores ethical questions around artificial intelligence with refreshing humanity. Romano-Lax’s latest novel is a gift. Through its beauty and devastation, its speculation and its certainty, it will force audiences to confront the truest places within themselves—the spaces where artifice will never suffice.”
​​—​Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
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“The secrets we keep and the prejudices we navigate rise to the surface of Andromeda Romano-Lax’s lovely, heartrending near-future novel . . . Dark realities (including human trafficking) loom, but it’s the vulnerable-but-tough and irreplaceable characters who stick with you.”
—Book Riot

“[Romano-Lax’s] spin on the genre focuses on an elderly woman and a male android, a dynamic that provides the novel with its most original and engaging material. The thoughtful depictions of old age, memory, and trauma are refreshing. This is a compelling, enjoyable addition to the genre. A well-written, entertaining novel that both enacts and subverts the tropes of android fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“This quietly thoughtful read sits at the crossroads of literary and speculative fiction and will attract readers of both genres, especially those interested in exploring the consequences of present-day policies and the boundaries of artificial intelligence and human/robotic relationships.”
—Library Journal

“Romano-Lax proves herself a gifted writer, creating beautiful imagery . . . ​A story of human connection and finding joy after trauma.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The writing is so subtle, so effortless, that your heart doesn’t break so much as quietly dissolve into tears.”
—Strange Horizons

Praise for Andromeda Romano-Lax

“Impressive and richly atmospheric.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Riveting.”
—People Magazine

“With great care and skill, Romano-Lax teases out the human complexities, exploring the differing values, desires and fears of the various characters while creating [an] atmosphere of chilling menace and threat.”
–Sydney Morning Herald

“Both shocking and thought-provoking; and the intimate struggles of a woman weighing her value, utility, and satisfaction both within and outside the home certainly resonate today.”
—The Boston Globe

“Scorching . . . By detailing how the study of human behavior differs from understanding people, and how smart women can miss the obvious and make mistakes, Romano-Lax sheds a harsh yet deeply moving light on feminism and psychology, in theory and in practice.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review