The Family Experiment

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual .

'John Marrs is not to be missed' – Freida McFadden, bestselling author of The Housemaid

'Few writers do domestic suspense meets dystopia better than John Marrs' – Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Paris Apartment

'The books of John Marrs have become a quiet phenomenon . Thoughtful, well written . and alarming' – Daily Mail

Some families are virtually perfect .

The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch, accessing them via the Metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind MetaChildren has created a reality TV show. It will follow its contestants as they raise a MetaChild from birth to the age of eighteen, 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 .

The Goodreads Choice Award runner up, The Family Experiment is set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act. A dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate 'tamagotchi' – a virtual baby.

'Speculative fiction at its best – original, dark and wickedly clever' – C. L. Taylor, author of Every Move You Make

'His best yet. Frighteningly plausible, gripping, dark, and so clever' – Claire Douglas, author of The Woman Who Lied

'Hurtles towards a chilling denouement – a truly thought-provoking, single-sitting thriller' – Ellery Lloyd, author of The Club

'Chilling, inventive, horribly plausible and brilliantly addictive' – C. J. Tudor, author of The Gathering

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.