Victoria Hetherington

Victoria Hetherington

Victoria Hetherington worked as a butcher and an artist’s model before graduating to writing just about anything you can imagine for money. Their debut novel, Mooncalves, was a finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award 2020. Hetherington lives in Toronto.

Website:  vhetherington.com
Twitter: @VMHetherington
Instagram: vmhetherington

A beautifully written and profoundly enthralling novel that made me wonder if Joan Didion had started writing literary fiction.” –Michael Redhill

FESTIVAL BOOK

Autonomy

In a near future ravaged by illness, one woman and her AI companion enter a dangerous bubble of the superrich.

It’s 2035: a fledging synthetic consciousness “wakes up” in a lab. Jenny, the lead developer, determined to nurture this synthetic being like a child, trains it to work with people at the border of the American Protectorate of Canada. She names it Julian.

Two years later, Slaton, a therapist at a university, is framed by a student for arranging an illegal abortion. She follows the student to America and is detained at the border, where she meets Julian in virtual space. After a week of interviewing, he decides to stay with her, learning about the world, the human condition, and what it means to fall in love. Meanwhile, a mysterious plague is spreading across the world. Only the far-seeing and well-connected Julian can protect Slaton from the impending societal collapse.

Autonomy is an ambitious philosophical novel about the possibilities for love in a world in which human bodies are either threatened or irrelevant. 

GET THE BOOK

Owl’s Nest Books (Calgary) | Calgary Public Library

BE CURIOUSER

  • Review: A powerful take on love, loss and artificial intelligence. -Vancouver Sun

ALL EVENTS WITH Victoria Hetherington

3 PM
Fictioneering: The Art of Darkness
Oct 02 @ 3 PM MT - 4 PM MT

Memorial Park Library, Alexander Calhoun Salon

1221 2 St SW
7 PM
Inter-Activity: Question Everything
Oct 03 @ 7 PM MT - 8:30 PM MT

DJD Dance Centre

111 12 Ave SE