The near-future sci-fi novel Liberty's Daughter by Naomi Kritzer takes place two hundred miles off the coast of Los Angeles on a seastead - a community of old cruise ships and freighters connected together and populated by those looking to escape their lives on land. The combination of against-the-system personalities and close-quarters leads to social upheaval and personal revelation.
The novel (a 2024 Minnesota Book Award nominee) follows Beck, a nearly life-long resident of the seastead who is introduced to readers as a teenager with the after-school job of finding things. Through Beck's unique perspective, we are introduced to the routine nature of happenings at sea. The routine doesn't last long, as news of a missing person sets into motion a larger mystery.
Despite the unfamiliar setting, the story has strong ties to current events. "I think almost all science fiction is about the time in which it is written more than it is about the time it's theoretically set," says Kritzer. Topics include reality TV, separatist living, and suspicion about vaccines (despite being written prior to 2020). Kritzer notes that that element of the book was not so much prescient as it was a "part of a long-established pattern of how people respond."
Liberty's Daughter is available online and through many local and regional booksellers.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
