Publication Date: March 3, 2026
For fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale comes Ava, a provocative blend of speculative fiction and social commentary that takes readers on a gripping, thought-provoking journey into the fight for women’s autonomy in a politically charged Southern landscape.
What if the only way to reclaim reproductive freedom was to rewrite the very nature of birth itself?
Ten years after Roe v. Wade is overturned, twenty-two-year-old biologist Larkin finds herself unexpectedly pregnant in a country where choice is no longer an option. Initially uncertain, she embraces motherhood—until a devastating diagnosis changes everything. Trapped by Tennessee’s strict abortion laws, she is forced to carry her baby to term, only to endure the heartbreak of losing her hours after birth.
Years later, Larkin joins a radical scientific movement that could change everything: a groundbreaking technology that replaces gestation with incubation, allowing women true control over their reproduction. When she uses it to bring her second daughter, Ava, into the world, she believes she has finally reclaimed her autonomy. But as Ava grows and begins to question the very choice that created her, Larkin is challenged in ways she never imagined.
Ava is a powerful, emotionally charged exploration of motherhood, bodily autonomy, and the far-reaching consequences of restrictive legislation. In a future shaped by loss and innovation, mother and daughter must confront the ultimate question: what does it truly mean to have a choice?
Few things are more polarizing than the issue of abortion. However, readers able to suspend their personal beliefs will step into a future world of highly restricted reproductive freedom.
Author Victoria Dillon delivers a well-crafted piece of speculative fiction in Ava. The simple title connects to the story, but does little to caution readers about the heavy emotions it evokes.
At the center is Larkin, a gifted biology student, who marries her soulmate. A surprise pregnancy sparks joy that soon disintegrates with the revelation of a fatal condition.
Larkin’s determination to ensure no other mother has to go through the horror of giving birth to a non-viable baby sparks her participation in an experiment that would change the gestation process.
This is the part of the story where the “speculative” aspect hits high gear. Thanks to science, women would maintain control over their bodies while shifting to an incubation process, much like birds.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, the women who choose to go through with this procedure are essentially taking the choice away from their children. That comes into play for Larkin’s daughter, Ava.
The author’s ability to craft a mesmerizing narrative unfolds through the ease with which scientific and medical details are woven in—no chance of boredom in this book.
My challenge for fellow readers is to soak up this dystopian tale and walk away with a better sense of the shadows in a black-and-white world.
Victoria Dillon is a former research scientist, current pediatrician, and writer with a passion for exploring the intersections of politics and science. She has a unique ability to blend speculative fiction with thought-provoking social commentary, creating prose that speaks both to the heart and the mind. She has lived in the South throughout her childhood and career and loves naps with her cat, Americana music, and hunting for her next read at Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN. She currently resides in Middle Tennessee.
