Speculative Fiction / Cli Fi
Date Published: Oct 2023
Publisher: BAD PRESS iNK
It’s 2050 and climate change catastrophe isn’t the future... it’s now. And climate refugees aren’t other people... it’s you.
The streets are a spider’s web of new tributaries. Everything is underwater. Don’t worry about us, but nothing is the same anymore.
It’s 2050 and the River Rhône has flooded the town of Arles in France so Helen and Isha leave to join their adopted daughter Jana and eleven-month-old granddaughter Ayo in England.
But at Calais, they find that if Isha crosses the Channel, she will be immediately deported as her grandparents were Ugandan-Asian. Faced with the terrible dilemma, Helen chooses to remain with Isha.
Homeless and now stateless, they decide to seek refuge in a friend’s Swiss mountain chalet, but to avoid immigration checkpoints they have to walk, following the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, and now the preferred escape corridor for refugees fleeing climate catastrophes.
Horrified at her parents embarking on such a dangerous journey, Jana resolves to follow. However, this is not so easy.
They communicate whenever and however they can while battling with exhaustion, terror, and virulent xenophobia as people struggle to protect their increasingly scarce resources.
The journey ends in Parma, Italy, a perfect destination for reasons they could never have imagined.
Praise for Future Imperfect
"Future Imperfect is a thought-provoking and timely book that explores a not-too-distant future where environmental changes and social divisions have reshaped society… It will make you reflect on the choices we make today and the impact they will have on our future."
Kumi Naidoo: Human Rights Activist
International Executive Director of Greenpeace International 2009-2015
Secretary General of Amnesty International 2018-2020
"an incredibly good read… both deeply personal and political, it will become part of the canon climate novels."
Rehad Desai
Producer / Director: Miners Shot Down (2014), How to Steal a Country (2019) and Everything Must Fall (2019)
"This is one of those rare books that becomes part of you…. An engrossing read."
Terry Shakinovsky, author and book journalist
Interview with Babette Gallard
How many books have you written, and which is your favourite?
I have written 5 books, and Future Imperfect is my favourite.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
No, I’m not planning a sequel.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
I want Future Imperfect to stand on its own.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
It is set in the future, and I wanted to find a title that indicated this but also the imperfection of our future as it stands now.
How long did it take you to write this book?
About 2 years
What does the title mean?
The title comes from its theme, the future. It is set in 2050, and the ‘imperfect’ refers to the problems we’ll face due to climate change. And, of course, it is a reference to the grammatical future imperfect.
What did you learn when writing the book?
I learnt a huge amount about climate change and what we can expect. I learnt about indigenous stories and so much else about the biodiversity of the world we live in. I also learnt from my editors that I can’t assume everyone will understand what I say because I know what I mean!
What surprised you the most?
My determination to see this through to the end.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Yes
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
I live with them for a while, and if I can’t write their voices, I speak in their voices and record it. That really helps.
About the Author
After clambering up and falling through a 20m roof at school (avoiding lessons), breaking several significant bones, Babette’s equestrian career was over until her mother suggested she continue with the safer art of dressage-riding. For this, she trained in Germany and rode professionally, but after 4 years, she returned to the UK to, as she said, grow up. She took and passed three A levels and then a Humanities degree, and with these survived as a freelance journalist and TV researcher in Bristol until she met her husband, became a hippy and got pregnant. Wanting a better life for their daughter, they decided to live off the land in Portugal, which worked for a few years.
Meanwhile, she wrote anything and everything, fiction, non-fiction, some published, some lucrative, some not, including young adult novels and accounts of her 1000km journeys along St James Way and Via Francigena on horseback. With her third husband, Babette manages their publishing company for the LightFoot guides.
Babette was born in Shropshire but has lived and worked long-term in seven countries, including on a boat and in a jungle. Now living in Johannesburg, in 2022, she received her Masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Witwatersrand and is currently preparing for an English doctorate at Stellenbosch University, where she will undoubtedly be the oldest but most enthusiastic student.
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