Our Better Natures

LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI BOOK PRIZE 2026'Ward fleshes out her real-life characters with complete conviction, deftly threading their own words into the fabric of her fiction' FINANCIAL TIMES'A captivating invocation of a moment of revolutionary zeal and hope . . . a prescient reminder of the importance of testimony in the fight for justice, of individual stories' IRISH EXAMINER

'Our Better Natures is a stunning meditation on hope, its fragile insistence, driven by Sophie Ward's singular wit and astounding philosophical playfulness. It cements Ward's place as one of our most inventive, inquisitive, & alert novelists working today' MARGOT DOUAIHY

'Our Better Natures is potent and beguiling. It makes one see with a better eye' LAURA CARLIN

'Our Better Natures is an absolute marvel - a marvel of ideas, full of intellectual delights; a marvel of construction that propels us toward the most unexpected - and inevitable - outcomes; a marvel of writing, elegant, poised, wise, achingly beautiful at times, but never pulling focus from the stories of the three women and the people around them; and a marvel of compassion. A truly magnificent creation' NANCY CRANEAmid the chaos and political upheaval of 1970s America, three very different women must accept the world as it is, or act to change it.

Phyllis Patterson is a housewife in White Plains, Illinois. Her son Jimmy returns to the family home from Vietnam with a Korean wife and two children. Blindsided by these new additions, particularly her curious granddaughter, Soozie, Phyllis's small-town world is turned upside down in more ways than she could have ever imagined.

Andrea Dworkin is an activist in Amsterdam. Having fled her abusive husband and their life together, she finds herself desperate for answers, for herself and the world around her. An encounter with Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault at their infamous Dutch debate provokes her burgeoning independence. Returning to America she will embody a revolution, no matter the price.

Muriel Rukeyser is a poet in New York. Despite protestations from her lover, Monica, Muriel insists on campaigning against injustice, using her words as weapons and pushing her body to its limits. In this era of political unrest, Muriel's life stands as a testament to the possibility of creative resistance.

A single postcard from an imprisoned writer thousands of miles away will unite these women in the fight for a world they believe in.

Full of compassion, imagination and rich storytelling, Our Better Natures is a powerful novel about language, connection and freedom.

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