The Mars House

A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick

by Natasha Pulley

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Pub Date 19 Mar 2024 | Archive Date 29 Mar 2024

Orion Publishing Group | Gollancz

General Fiction (Adult) | Romance | Sci Fi & Fantasy

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Description

When an apocalyptic dust storm engulfs Mars, cutting off power to the capital, a refugee and a politician must find a way to make the PR stunt that is their hastily arranged marriage work in order to save the planet.

In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal dancer in London’s Royal Ballet, has become a refugee on Mars. Things are different here – the main language is Mandarin, the gravity is extremely confusing, and gender was abolished decades ago.

When Aubrey Gale, a trillionaire turned politician, decides that all humans need to be naturalised to assimilate to life on Mars, January’s life is thrown into chaos. A chance encounter plunges Aubrey and Gale into the national limelight and they are forced into a five-year made-for-the-press marriage that will secure January’s future and ensure Gale’s political success.

As their romantic relationship develops, political tensions continue to deepen, threatening to destroy Mars. It is now up to January and Aubrey to make the decision that will determine the future.

Timely and utterly unputdownable, The Mars House is an exceptional genre-blending romance, exploring climate collapse, class privilege, and queer love.

Advance Praise

‘Finished The Mars House by Natasha Pulley. We’re talking total Pulley. 100% Pulley. Pulley writing magic lavished on a totally Pulley plot. I’ve never known anybody to pack so many ideas so elegantly into a novel. Brilliant as usual, but – more importantly – pure Pulley’ Stuart Turton, Costa Book Award-winning author of million-copy bestseller The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

‘Now. Natasha Pulley is already a hard favourite of mine. She’s so clever and has an imagination that’s so vast that it’s just not fair on the rest of us mere mortals. But this new one is a work of staggering genius beyond even the others' Imran Mahmood, CWA Gold Dagger and Theakstons-longlisted author of Netflix smash hit You Don’t Know Me

‘Natasha Pulley is in a class of her own – The Mars House is a tour de force, melding extra-terrestrial colonisation, inter-planetary politics, ballet and mammoths with her uniquely witty style. An early contender for the best book of 2024!’ Cailean Steed, Pen to Print Award-winning author of Home

‘Few writers combine such warmth and heart with such consummate skill as Natasha Pulley. She sends the reader out into the skies, and deep into themselves, places we never knew we could travel. Reading her is both a joyful and profound experience – and The Mars House is her most daring, ambitious, and exciting book yet’ Catriona Ward, Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street

‘Simply unputdownable – hilarious, ingenious, and full of warmth, The Mars House asks important questions about what it means to be human, and doesn’t shy away from nuanced conversations about immigration, climate breakdown, and augmented reality. Plus it has talking mammoths and a very clever twist. What’s not to love?’ Thomas D Lee, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Perilous Times

‘This book swallowed me whole and refused to let me go for 4 days… This is a book about language, how new society subcultures form, gender, mammoths, and space… I want to live inside Natasha Pulley’s brain – and I would happily read a thousand more pages set on Mars. The incredible arranged marriage queer romance was just an added bonus. Book of the year for me’ Lauren James, Carnegie-shortlisted author of The Quiet at the End of the World and founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League

‘Finished The Mars House by Natasha Pulley. We’re talking total Pulley. 100% Pulley. Pulley writing magic lavished on a totally Pulley plot. I’ve never known anybody to pack so many ideas so...