Girl Minus X
Anne Stone
October 2020
296 PAGES | ISBN 978-1-989496-11-4
As the world around them collapses under the weight of a slow, creeping virus that erodes memory, fifteen-year-old Dany and her five-year-old sister are on the edge of their own personal apocalypse – fearing separation at the hands of child services. When a dangerous new strain of the virus emerges, Dany careens headlong into crisis, determined to save her sister. Together with her best friend and reluctant history teacher, they must flee the city. Along the way, Dany faces a series of devastating choices: Can she make the dangerous attempt to break her aunt out of the prison-hospice? And just how much is Dany willing to sacrifice to ensure her sister and her friends survive?
Girl Minus X is a meditation on the gift that is memory and its hidden costs, pitting a fear of forgetting against a desire to erase the past.
Reviews | Interviews | Articles | Excerpt | About the Author
Advance Praise
“Girl Minus X is what happens when great writing meets a mesmeric, page-turning plot. The best speculative fiction captures what we dimly imagine but intimately feel; and this book wins in its gripping tale of intense social crises, complicated family members, dismal pressures from school and a young woman awakening to her own uncanny power. Anne Stone will captivate both teens and adults alike.” – David Chariandy, author of Soucouyant and Brother
“What if you could let go of your trauma? Now, what if that process was forced on you by a virus that robbed you of all memories? Girl Minus X explores the bonds between humans surviving mid-apocalypse. Nobody writes like Anne Stone. Get prepared for the unthinkable.” – Emily Pohl-Weary, author of Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl and Ghost Sick
Reviews
Girl Minus X by Anne Stone Review (Radioactive Book Reviews, 06/10/2020)
"If you love books about a different kind of infection induced apocalypse [...] then this is the book for you. I really can’t stress enough how much I loved this book."
Girl Minus X (Publishers Weekly, 24/07/2020)
"Stone’s brilliant, breathless novel will put readers in mind of Emily St. John Mandel and Margaret Atwood."
Interviews
WHAT INSPIRES WRITERS: AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Anne Stone (crystal fletcher, All About Books, 24/11/2020)
crystal and Anne discuss what inspires an author who has written a novel about a virus that robs people of their memories?
E208 with ANNE STONE (Jamie Tennant, Get Lit, 11/11/2020)
Anne and Jamie talk about her new novel.
Articles
Reading Roundup: Dystopian and Sci-fi Picks from Don Miasek (Don Miasek, All Lit Up, 15/11/2024)
Exciting to see Anne's novel on this great roundup.
A love letter (to libraries) (Anne Stone, Open Book, 16/03/2021)
"I’d been going to libraries forever – had been to this one dozens of times – but this was the first time I really saw one."
Permission to dream (Anne Stone, Open Book, 13/03/2021)
"In school, we aren’t taught how to daydream, but rather, not to daydream at all. But the work of writing is daydreaming."
Books for International Women's Day (All Lit Up, 08/03/2021)
Anne's book makes All Lit Up's list of Books for International Women's Day
Writing Time (Anne Stone, Open Book, 05/03/2021)
Anne Stone writes about "non-linear perceptions/representations of time" as Open Book's Writer-in-Residence.
Writing violence (again) (Anne Stone, Open Book, 01/03/2021)
As Open Book's Writer-in-Residence, Anne writes about violence and trauma and repetition.
"A Sustained Think... on Trauma" March 2021 Writer in Residence Anne Stone on Writing a Pandemic Novel Before COVID (Anne Stone, Open Book, 25/02/2021)
Anne talks about the chance moment in an elevator when the initial spark for Girl Minus X came as part of Open Book's Long Story series.
Suggested reads from our 'Book Guy' (Sean Wilson, CTV News Ottawa, 24/02/2021)
Sean Wilson recommends Girl minus X.
Off/Kilter Halloween Edition: Spooky Reads Round-up (All Lit Up, 06/10/2020)
Anne's book will keep you good company through the long, dark night on all Hallows' Eve!
New Releases: October 2020 (Scotiabank Giller Prize blog, October 2020)
Anne's novel is featured as part of this round up of New Releases: October 2020
14 Utterly Fantastic Books for Fall 2020 (Kiley Turner, 49th Shelf, 18/09/2020)
Anne's novel is on this list of 14 Utterly Fantastic books for Fall.
Going Viral: New Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 (Ed Simon, Publishers Weekly, 04/09/2020)
Anne's novel is included in this round-up of prescient speculative fiction.
Most Anticipated: 2020 Fall Fiction Preview (49th Shelf, 09/07/2020)
Anne's book makes the list of most anticipated fall titles.
Excerpt
Read an excerpt from Girl Minus X.
About the Author
Anne Stone is the author of three novels, Delible (2007), Hush (1999) and jacks: a gothic gospel (1998). She is currently at work on a collection of short fiction. She spent her childhood in Toronto, lived in Montreal, and now makes her home in Vancouver, where she teaches Creative Writing and Literature at Capilano University.
