A Dark, Feminist Novel
A work of Speculative Fiction
The Lottery
THE LOTTERY
Australia has banned babies, and one reluctant woman must decide if reproductive freedom is worth fighting for.
Brilliant scientist Alice Avery has never wanted children. When she falls pregnant accidentally, she doesn’t consider Australia’s mandated abortion laws an abuse of women’s rights. Instead, they’re a relief and a safety net for her.
Until the government decides that Alice and her baby are special. Too special for her baby not to be given a chance at life.
Prohibited from seeking an abortion, Alice and her unborn baby become unwilling participants in The Lottery, a brutal and secretive competition to see which woman will carry Australia’s next quarter baby to term.
Held against her will and forced to endure rounds of gruelling and invasive tests, Alice must fight for survival while coming to the realisation that her country doesn’t care about women.
Alice must finally face the truth—she may be the only woman in history who can do anything about it...
The Lottery is a dark feminist dystopian tale that unapologetically explores the intersection of politics and reproductive rights. Thought-provoking and chilling, it demonstrates how choices outside of our control can make us who we are, while our actions have the power to change our destiny.
A Few Favourite Scenes & Quotes from The Lottery
Sneak Peaks from Chapters 1 - 5
Chapter 1
“My boyfriend shows me the world,” Kit said, throwing her arms around herself and swooning. Her bouncy red hair fell over her face and covered her eyes.
“My boyfriend is a poet of the stars,” Darcy took over, wrapping her arms sensually around her upper body. Her biceps bulged as she hugged herself and made horribly loud smooching sounds.
I snorted, choking on my sip of coffee and cringing. As a defence, I shovelled another two mouthfuls of pancake in, trying my best to chew and swallow as my cheeks grew redder and hotter.
“My boyfriend dreams in planets,” Kit said, jumping up onto her knees and flinging her fingers through her thick red hair, frizzing it out.
“My boyfriend holds the galaxy in his hands,” Darcy giggled, swooning and batting her thick fake eyelashes at me.
Chapter 2
The doctor’s cool demeanour unnerved me, so I kept talking. “I know many women would kill to be in my position—A chance,” I said, my voice getting louder and squeakier. I stood up, hopping up on my leather chair with both knees, and pushing myself up to my feet. “To win the lottery,” I said, my voice sickly sweet, as I kissed my hands and threw them into the air, waving at a non-existent crowd of onlookers. “I am not interested.”
Chapter 3
You couldn’t tell I was pregnant yet, but should that still get me a seat?
“Do you believe in women’s rights?” A thick pack of pamphlets were shoved in my face, gripped by a hand with red taloned nails.
I sighed. “I certainly do,” I said, rummaging through my messy handbag. The two treat bags were now oil-stained and in the way as I fished my heels from the bottom—underneath everything I owned. “Alas, I have to get to work.”
Chapter 4
“Pizza or baby?” I whispered as I swivelled side-on and stared at my stomach in Rosalind Institutes luxurious bathroom mirror.
Chapter 5
“What is going on with that colour?” I asked, giggling as the first rush of alcohol reached my brain and I poked Darcy’s bicep.
She chugged down three-quarters of her mojito, staring at me with forlorn eyes.
“Disaster,” she finally said, sucking in a breath and letting out a commanding burp. “It’s the story of my life written on my skin.” This time she winked at me.
“When your boss finds out you’re pregnant,” I said coldly, closing my eyes and leaning my head back, “they become crazed at the possibility of a Rosalind employee competing in the lottery.” I made sure my sarcasm was over-the-top.
“We fucked once,” I said, feeling the groan in my words. Visions of Mason’s sweaty body against mine flashed in my mind and sent a burn to my cheeks.
“Isn’t he a scientist, too?” Darcy asked, her dark eyes shooting upwards.
“He’s an astronomer,” I said. “If you call that a scientist,” I added with an eye roll, the words shot out under my breath and made the girls giggle. I had said the same thing about Mason to them last time—and a tiny pang of guilt wiggled through me.
“He’s already replied.” Darcy smirked, staring down at my phone.
“How is that possible?” Kit grumbled, followed by our loud laughter. I appreciated them more than ever as they wiped my tears and pulled me out of my spiral.
“Maybe it’s because your ass is from outer space,” Darcy said, pushing herself to her feet and reaching down to drag me up as I burst into a fit of half-sobs, half-giggles.
“Your legs are out of this world,” Kit chimed in, standing up, too.
Prologue
The Beginning
The day The Lottery was announced, the women held their tongues.
When the Speaker took the stage, a hush fell over the crowd. The women looked on, too numb from years of mandates to speak up, too broken from being silenced to keep fighting.
The mandates had institutionalised the women of Australia. When the changes first started, it had been to legalise abortion and provide free birth control. It felt like the golden age; a time when women were taken seriously as equals.
Avery remembered when the government added incentives to stop growing their families. Cash for women to remain childless, financial motives to entrap them in a new system.
The government called on women to help the country address the exploding population. Australia was suffering under the crushing weight of its people – rising poverty, food shortages, a housing crisis, and crippling inflation.
They called on women to put the greater good above their own desires.
But the women didn’t hear the undertones of the plea, didn’t heed the warning. They didn’t take the slow changes to law seriously. Slowly, mandates and sponsored bills chipped away at their fundamental freedoms, deliberate and calculating, each incremental change a step into a new Australian normal.
Five years after the first rumblings, the women woke up in a country where having a baby had been banned. It was only then that some women marched, but it was too late; the law was ratified. Abortion became a way of life, both for accidental and wanted pregnancies. Life changed slowly and then all at once. Overnight, Australia became a different place.
And now, women stood silent again, as they listened with bated breath to the government's new initiative.
The Speaker shattered the world by announcing a chance.
The government had heard the women. They understood the sacrifices made the last few years.
After years of heartache, trials, famine, and war, Australia was showing a few signs of recovery, and the government wanted to reward them.
There was a new solution. They claimed they were showing a hint of mercy, a touch of kindness, a shred of hope, as they announced The Lottery.
The Lottery was a new-age competition.
The first chance women had after years of oppression.
The Lottery was a chance to battle against one another, pitted against other women for a chance to continue a pregnancy.
A chance for women to prove the worth of their genes through stringent testing.
A chance for anyone, regardless of money or status, to compete for the privilege of keeping their baby.
One baby per quarter was all the government could offer.
They sold it as a tiny step in the right direction.
The first tenuous steps as Australia recovered.
For twenty-five long years, the government would control the population like this.
Every quarter a new chance to compete.
Every pregnancy now scrutinised to see if it met all the markers for future success.
When Avery heard the broadcast, she sighed.
Another empty promise, another backhanded chance. More rules and regulations, more updates to the mandate.
Avery knew what The Lottery really was.
Another chance for rigorous control on women’s bodies, hidden under the guise of hope.
She wasn’t fooled. But she was unaffected. So she stayed silent.
At seventeen, she knew nothing of the adult world, nothing of her future.
Avery was a girl with no desire for children.
A girl born without the mothering gene.
A girl with no need to speak up,
Until she grew into a woman and the rules came back to haunt her.
Survival takes on a new meaning in The Lottery,
Pregnancy is just the beginning.
