The Hierarchies Audiobook By Ros Anderson cover art

The Hierarchies

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Hierarchies

By: Ros Anderson
Narrated by: Katharine McEwan
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Your husband is the reason for your existence. You are here to serve him. You must not harm your husband. Nor may you harm any human.

What is love - or consent - if you're programmed to obey?

Sylv.ie is a fully sentient robot, designed to cater to her Husband’s every whim. She lives alone on the top floor of his luxurious home, her existence barely tolerated by his human wife and concealed from their child. Between her Husband’s visits, deeply curious about the world beyond her room, Sylv.ie watches the family in the garden - hears them laugh, cry and argue. Longing to experience more of life, she confides her hopes and fears only to her diary. But are such thoughts allowed? And if not, what might the punishment be?

As Sylv.ie learns more about the world and becomes more aware of her place within it, something shifts inside her. Is she malfunctioning, as her Husband thinks, or coming into her own? As their interactions become increasingly fraught, she fears he might send her back to the factory for reprogramming. If that happens, her hidden diary could be her only link to everything that came before. And the only clue that she is in grave danger.

Set in a recognisable near future and laced with dark, sly humour, Ros Anderson’s deeply observant debut novel is less about the fear of new technology than about humans’ age-old talent for exploitation. In a world where there are now two classes of women - 'born' and 'created' - the growing friction between them may have far-reaching consequences no one could have predicted.

©2020 Ros Anderson (P)2021 Penguin Random House LLC
Dystopian Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"[A] quiet triumph.... Anderson’s prose - Sylv.ie’s voice - offers a beautiful combination of naivete and wisdom, full of nonhuman puzzlements, off-kilter observations and limpid poetry." (Washington Post)

"Fascinating.... Anderson gracefully executes the process of Sylv.ie’s self-discovery, making her feel real and deeply sympathetic.... Readers will be drawn in by Sylv.ie’s emotional story." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Hierarchies

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.