{"product_id":"the-family-experiment-john-marrs","title":"The Family Experiment: John Marrs","description":"A Novel\nJohn Marrs \nPaperback \nFiction \/ Literary \n384 pages\n8 in H | 5.2 in W | 0.9 in T | 0.6 lb Wt\n\nFrom the author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is the next dark and brilliant addition to the acclaimed speculative Dark Future series, about families: real and virtual.\n\nSome families are virtually perfect...\n\nThe world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.\n\nBut for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality tv show called The Substitute. It w ill follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby...\n\nSet in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate \"tamagotchi\"--a virtual baby.","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48106515235028,"sku":"9781335001122","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/5194\/1844\/files\/88ce7a9b06dc009d2ba9040a429199c6ee69ce612d1d9b2ab61449f386164c7f.jpg?v=1781568056","url":"https:\/\/readingbetweenthelanes.com\/products\/the-family-experiment-john-marrs","provider":"Reading Between the Lanes","version":"1.0","type":"link"}