Born on the lush island nation of Mahana, Fred lives under the tyrannical rule of a book-burning king. Under the king’s rule, Mahanians are controlled by a military dictatorship and threatened with forced starvation, while people with disabilities are exiled. After Fred’s father suddenly disappears, Fred joins an underground movement of dissenters and becomes an unwitting global icon in the fight for Mahanian freedom. When he is recruited and relocated by an organization that seems sympathetic to Fred’s cause, he arrives in a seemingly peaceful foreign nation, where the impact of social media and technology creates a new, stranger struggle.

A dystopian thriller, speculative fiction, and coming-of-age story, Wong’s prose thrums with biting bursts of staccato, which fittingly accompany this fascinating exploration of contrasting political systems. As Fred unpeels layers of truth and sees beyond the optics of altruism and the illusion of choice, Slice the Water unpacks the myriad, amplifying impacts of technology, addiction, and complacency.

PP Wong is a Vancouver-based author, screenwriter, and editor. Her debut novel, The Life of a Banana, was a finalist for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was featured in many publications, including The Guardian, The Independent, Corriere Della Sera, The Straits Times, Bangkok Post and Vanity Fair. Wong has also written for non-profits that fight for equality and lived in countries where freedom is suppressed, experiences that inspired her to write Slice the Water.

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