Sure, she’s done her time in afterschool jobs during high school, got a college degree (and all the debt that comes with it), and works full-time at a call center processing workplace harassment complaints. But none of it means anything, and none of it pays the bills. Or comes with dental insurance. A dental emergency that she can’t afford leads her to plasma donation, and at the blood center, she finds a flyer for a job with the Company — which we’re told is one of the most ubiquitous tech companies in the world. (I’m thinking Google, Microsoft, Apple… ) The job posting is vague, but promises to pay well… and yes, there’s dental!

After passing in-depth, intrusive screenings and signing intense NDAs (without reading the fine print), Natalie finally learns what she’s been selected for. She’ll be the Company’s first in-house gestational carrier. No longer will top professional women have to step away from their careers for maternity leave! By providing them with a company-paid surrogate, they can truly have it all — the baby they’ve always wanted, without the career disruption that comes with it. Gender equality at last! Sigh.

And so begins Natalie’s strange new life. Her contract is for seven pregnancies within ten years, with bonuses at various milestones and after each birth, a huge completion bonus at the end of the contract, a very nice salary, luxury accommodations provided by the Company, and all medical and health needs provided. It’s quite the sweet deal for someone who hates work.

I knew that being pregnant meant being tired all the time. But it also meant reason to rest. Being pregnant meant people offering to do things for you. Being pregnant was the perfect excuse, in fact, to not do anything at all.

Yes, there’s quite a bit of monitoring (if her biofeedback ring reports a less-than-ideal night’s sleep, she gets an immediate call from her doctor), tons of rules (playing language lessons in two selected languages to her belly everyday, strict dietary and exercise requirements, no artificial anything), and even performance reviews after each pregnancy.

Natalie also gets a “fallow” period after each delivery — a period of months where she’s free (or freer) of the intense rules, before beginning the preparation for the next pregnancy. She interprets her fallow time as time to cut loose — wild nights out, indulging in junk food, alcohol, random sex, and all the things she must deny herself otherwise. It’s an odd life, but it’s hers, and for once, she doesn’t have to worry about money, or much of anything at all.

But midway through the book, things change in a way that Natalie couldn’t have foreseen, and her cozy life of pampered pregnancies and fallow periods is knocked off course. From here, events occur (no spoilers!) that take Fallow out of the realm of corporate culture into something else entirely. It’s quite a transition, and requires a sharp adjustment for readers right alongside Natalie.

In some ways, Fallow reads as a satire of corporate culture. Breaking down barriers, enabling true workplace equality… by eliminating the need for maternity leave, a workplace protection that took years to enshrine into employment rights. The idea of Natalie writing a self-evaluation after each delivery is absurd, yet fits within the skewering of corporate life and the ladder to success.

At the same time, Fallow is an exploration of finding one’s path amidst the untenable reality of mounting bills, housing and health insecurity, and lack of safety nets. Natalie takes the Company job not just for the life of ease it promises, but also because she really has nothing else on the horizon and can’t imagine any job or career that offers a realistic option for her. She’s quite clear that she doesn’t want to work — but would that change if she actually found meaning or joy in any of the work she might be able to find?

The back half of the book goes in a very different direction, as Natalie finds herself in a situation she didn’t expect. Without going into detail, I’ll just say that it’s weird and jarring, but ends up being a fantastic contrast to the first half of the book, and finally gives Natalie the space to think about what she actually wants. I did wish for a bit more resolution at the end. We get a good idea of what Natalie’s life might look like going forward, but I would have liked an epilogue or at least something a bit more concrete to tie it all together. That’s a minor quibble — overall, I was satisfied with the plot and character development, and my attention never flagged.

I read Fallow in about two days — it’s fast-paced, totally engaging, a lot of fun, and hard to put down. The premise sounds off the wall, but the execution is so good that we readers have no choice but to buy into it and go along for the ride.