The debut novel by Brampton, Ontario, author Jael Richardson – founder of the Festival of Literary Diversity and author of the memoir The Stone Thrower – is an outstanding and fearless story that follows a young woman’s journey of self-discovery and strength as she forges her own way in a ruthless society. Much can be said about Richardson’s impressive world-building: not only is Gutter Child set in a dystopia, featuring a bleak institutional system and a harsh social environment, it also depicts an alternate reality – its history mirrors our own, with some slight differences.
Gutter Child takes place on a land mass called the Mainland, where there exists a profound and violent legacy of colonialism, racism, and classism, though these specific terms are never used in the novel. The Sossi people – called Gutter people in the narrative present – are segregated from the Mainlanders. The Gutter people live in a large, low-income, gated community (the Gutter) where they are constantly monitored by armed Mainland guards. From birth, each Gutter person owes a large sum of money to the state, simply for being who they are – reparations from an ancestral war. Once they have paid their debt, they reach “Redemption Freedom,” but this is deeply difficult to attain, albeit highly desired. The world of the Mainland and the Gutter, and the people who occupy them, is whole, rich, and believable.
Elimina, the novel’s main character….Click here for the complete review.