Book excerpt: A Brand New World... A strange and yet oh so familiar society. A little different from ours, and then again: not so much. History has been twisted. Just a little. Just enough. In this world we meet ugly duckling Dior Darling whose fate it is to save the world as she uncovers a plot to do away with mankind effectively. As she travels around the world in search of clues, she gets entangled in world espionage, a love affair that isn't, survives an invasion of Aliens, and uncovers a truth she wishes she hadn't. A truth that will forever change life as we know it. Destruction, creation, and personal development are at the heart of this novel, in the eerily estranging way that defines the best science fiction: This world is not our world, but it never ceases to remind us of the fact that is could easily be. Brand New World is slightly absurd, witty - yet another example of Anna's enthralling style of writing that is very often a delicate lace of words that can induce shivers of aesthetic joy and recognition.