The Meadows

The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes blends elements of a queer, YA Handmaid's Tale with Never Let Me Go, set in a dystopian society determined to "reform" anyone who is LGBTQ+. It tells the gripping story of the lengths to which one girl will go to save herself and her friends.

Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Pines, the Glades, or the Meadows. These are the secret places where only the best and brightest go, to learn to burn even brighter.

When Eleanor gets her letter, she knows she’s freed from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster and war. Despite the Meadows' luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, it harbours a dark secret—its purpose is to reform the students inside, condition them against their attractions, and show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. Anything else, they are told, will topple a society already on the brink of collapse.

Five years later, Eleanor is an adjudicator, ensuring the Meadows' former students do not stray from the life they have been conditioned to live. However, Eleanor can't escape her past or thoughts of the girl she once loved, because that girl isn't there anymore. What happened to her could be no one’s fault but Eleanor's. As secrets emerge, setting Eleanor on a dangerous but determined search for the truth, she knows if she's not careful, it could be her fate too.