Oval

Berlin is changing. Artists work as corporate consultants, the weather is increasingly erratic, and economic inequality is spiralling out of control. As tech conglomerates hoover up available real estate, the party is moving on. Anja and Louis live in an eco-house on the city’s new artificial mountain: an experiment in green living powered by waste. But before long, the house starts to to go haywire. At work, artist-consultant Louis has become obsessed with a secret project: a pill called Oval that rewires the user’s brain to increase generosity. While Anja is horrified, Louis believes he has found the solution to Berlin’s income gap. Oval asks how we can relate to one another when every relationship – to our friends, to our bodies, and to bureaucracies – is leveraged in ways beyond our control. This is a novel about what the future might look like if it’s put up for sale.