The Amateurs
Finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award
Starred review at Quill & Quire: a “near-perfect debut novel”
Starred review at Publishers Weekly: “a sparkling, cohesive, and sharply insightful novel and a remarkable debut”
“Like all good science fiction, The Amateurs ably carries the weight of analogy: the grand themes of technology and what we’ve done to our planet and ourselves.” —Toronto Star
“This novel weds a high concept to an abundance of heart; like the mysterious passages in it, it’s hard to shake.” —TOR.com
“Harmer takes cues from Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy in this sharp debut, a cautionary tale of tech gone astray.” —Toronto Life
“[A] stunningly powerful work of post-apocalyptic fiction that examines our sense of reality and deals with the ultimate questions of where we came from and where we’re headed.” —The Hamilton Spectator
“Deeply original, The Amateurs is tense and fast-paced, exploring what happens when technology and desire meet in a world that doesn’t seem so different from ours.” —This Magazine
“Harmer’s writing is sharp and quotable. She is very good at observing the paradoxes and contradiction implicit in human striving, but also accomplished at world-building; her writing calls to mind Lauren Groff’s Arcadia or Claire Vaye Watkins’ Gold Fame Citrus in its blending of the domestic with the political” —JC Sutcliffe, Canadian Notes & Queries
“The Amateurs is sly and smart, unsettled and unsettling, a bold probe into our age’s grand seduction. An astonishing debut by a dazzling new voice.” —Charles Foran