Fallow

 

Fallow by Sarah Anderson
9/15/26; 336 pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

Fallow by Sarah Anderson is a recommended speculative women's fiction tale, for the right reader, about a young woman who makes a life changing decision because she needs an expensive dental procedure and then switches to an entirely different novel.

Natalie Gallagher, 23, does not enjoy working. Her current job is at a call center, with no dental plan. Then the tooth pain begins and she discovers she needs dental surgery. She starts out selling her plasma at the blood bank for easy cash, but while there, she learns about another opportunity which results in Natalie being employed as the world's first in-house corporate surrogate for The Company, which includes a very hefty paycheck, a condo, meals, cleaning service, around-the-clock health care... and dental insurance. Seven pregnancies with six-month sabbaticals in between them over ten years will net her over $1 million. Then the novel takes a dramatic turn at the midpoint and Natalie is pulled into an entirely different kind of social experiment.

This debut novel presents an interesting scenario that initially grabbed my attention. As I awaited the start of a compelling plot, it never quite delivered for several reasons. Natalie never questions her corporate job, she simply accepts everything and goes along with it, looking forward to her fallow period between pregnancies, when she has no obligations or expectations and can mindlessly party. She is paid very well for selling her womb as a commodity for rent. As a character, Natalie is superficial, neither likable nor self aware. Additionally, the pregnancies and births are not handled in a believable manner. 

I kept waiting for the critique of corporate America or the ethical questions to arise, but they just sit there, waiting. Readers get zero. There is no great awakening or realization. Then the novel hits the twist, pivots, and changes to an unbelievable direction and different tone. Natalie continues to abjectly accept whatever happens to her when a few important words would change everything. Additionally, you know, even living in the country, you can actually walk away and get somewhere in time. I get that the latter pastoral scenes are supposed to be better than the corporate gig, but it is at this point the novel also lost me and I no longer cared. 

Fallow will likely be enjoyed more by the right reader. Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.