Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison

Just in time for American’s 250^th birthday celebtations Meg Elison delivers a delightfully twisted satirical novella in Foundling Fathers.

Elison starts with a young Benjamin Franklin finding a mobile phone and quite quickly working out how to navigate its mysteries. This Benjamin Franklin has three brothers – Samual Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington – and the four were born, and have been raised, on a remote island. The finding of the phone sets off a chain of events that will reveal to them who they really are and what their purpose is.

Foundling Fathers plays with the idea that what right wing Americans really want is to go back to the past. And what better way to do this than to clone a group of the Founding Fathers and put them in place to “save America”. Only nothing is that simple, and Elison has fun exploring what the potential consequences of playing god in this way and at this time.

Foundling Fathers is an enjoyable thought experiment. It allows Elison to consider the cause of “true believers” and but also what these great men of American history might actually think about the state of their Nation in the early 21^st century. But more than all of that it has its tongue firmly in its cheek and provides an enjoyable way to deconstruct current US politics.

Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison

7.5

7.5/10