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The Strangers
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They came from nowhere, and now they are everywhere.
A few months after her mother dies, the novelist Naomi Alderman sets up a wildlife camera in the back garden of her parents’ home. It captures the first image of a strange new animal. Low to the ground, about the size of a badger, flat face, long, trunk-like nose. Suddenly these “mimmoths” are as common as foxes or dogs. And no one knows where they’ve come from.
As Alderman negotiates the territory of grief – a place with its own logic and rhythms – the mimmoths spread. From the UK east and west, to the United States, to Russia, to India. They seem harmless, but oddly intelligent. They cannot be captured, they will not take food from humans, they have their own purposes.
Alderman cannot shake the feeling that she has a particular connection to the creatures. Or is she just succumbing to ‘mimmoth psychosis’? As the impact of the mimmoths increases, she is pulled into the cross currents of conspiracy theories and global power struggles. Have her deeply personal forms of mourning lent recent events a surreal air, or is our reality changing drastically and irrevocably?
From the award-winning author of the international bestseller, The Power, The Strangers is a thrillingly original and devastatingly moving novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be human. It’s like nothing you’ll have read before.
A few months after her mother dies, the novelist Naomi Alderman sets up a wildlife camera in the back garden of her parents’ home. It captures the first image of a strange new animal. Low to the ground, about the size of a badger, flat face, long, trunk-like nose. Suddenly these “mimmoths” are as common as foxes or dogs. And no one knows where they’ve come from.
As Alderman negotiates the territory of grief – a place with its own logic and rhythms – the mimmoths spread. From the UK east and west, to the United States, to Russia, to India. They seem harmless, but oddly intelligent. They cannot be captured, they will not take food from humans, they have their own purposes.
Alderman cannot shake the feeling that she has a particular connection to the creatures. Or is she just succumbing to ‘mimmoth psychosis’? As the impact of the mimmoths increases, she is pulled into the cross currents of conspiracy theories and global power struggles. Have her deeply personal forms of mourning lent recent events a surreal air, or is our reality changing drastically and irrevocably?
From the award-winning author of the international bestseller, The Power, The Strangers is a thrillingly original and devastatingly moving novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be human. It’s like nothing you’ll have read before.
288 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication September 22, 2026
About the author
Naomi Alderman
44 books4,660 followersNaomi Alderman (born 1974 in London) is a British author and novelist.
Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist.
She was the lead writer for Perplex City, an Alternate reality game, at Mind Candy from 2004 through June, 2007.[1]
Her father is Geoffrey Alderman, an academic who has specialised in Anglo-Jewish history. She and her father were interviewed in The Sunday Times "Relative Values" feature on 11 February 2007.[2]
Her literary debut came in 2006 with Disobedience, a well-received (if controversial) novel about a rabbi's daughter from North London who becomes a lesbian, which won her the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers.
Since its publication in the United Kingdom, it has been issued in the USA, Germany, Israel, Holland, Poland and France and is due to be published in Italy, Hungary and Croatia.
She wrote the narrative for The Winter House, an online, interactive yet linear short story visualized by Jey Biddulph. The project was commissioned by Booktrust as part of the Story campaign, supported by Arts Council England. [3]
Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist.
She was the lead writer for Perplex City, an Alternate reality game, at Mind Candy from 2004 through June, 2007.[1]
Her father is Geoffrey Alderman, an academic who has specialised in Anglo-Jewish history. She and her father were interviewed in The Sunday Times "Relative Values" feature on 11 February 2007.[2]
Her literary debut came in 2006 with Disobedience, a well-received (if controversial) novel about a rabbi's daughter from North London who becomes a lesbian, which won her the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers.
Since its publication in the United Kingdom, it has been issued in the USA, Germany, Israel, Holland, Poland and France and is due to be published in Italy, Hungary and Croatia.
She wrote the narrative for The Winter House, an online, interactive yet linear short story visualized by Jey Biddulph. The project was commissioned by Booktrust as part of the Story campaign, supported by Arts Council England. [3]
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Everyone knows the saying: Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
But it's not true. Some things don't kill you but just leave you permanently weaker.
It is absolutely essential that before reading this book you know it is autofiction that combines deeply personal memoir with a sci-fi concept. It is almost certainly going to be unpopular because it is very strange and doesn't fit with the expectations of either sci-fi or memoir. That being said, I thought it was a moving read— distressing at times, definitely, but only because of the author's raw honesty.
Between 2017 and 2023, Alderman was met with a series of devastations: COVID, like the rest of us, but also the death of her mother and back-to-back miscarriages for which no doctor could offer an explanation. “Unlucky” was how they described this shattering experience.
This book is an outpouring of grief for her mother, the complex relationship they had, and the many imagined children Alderman never got to meet. Some of it is expressed directly; other parts use a sci-fi metaphor to convey the author’s traumatic state of mind.
The sci-fi aspect involves the discovery of a new species of animal, first in Britain and then around the world. These animals— called mimmoths for looking like miniature mammoths —are docile, gentle creatures, kind to all who do not harm them. Then a discovery is made that the birth rate is dropping in places where mimmoths have been killed by humans.
The discovery of the mimmoths is blended so seamlessly with Alderman's own story and the very real events of COVID that I actually went to google to see if I had somehow missed a new species called mimmoths in Britain (certainly stranger things have happened these last few years). To all those as gullible as I— no, obviously the mimmoths are pure metaphor.
In many ways, they serve as a cultural critique of human behaviour. The metaphors are perhaps a bit heavy-handed, but the author's writing is strong and engaging enough for me not to care. Alderman's introspection covers more than her grief, and this is reflected in the mimmoth story line. As many who have been there know, grief often makes one take a step back and view the world, our culture, through a different lens. Suddenly so many things seem ridiculous; nothing at all seems fair.
There was some fantastic commentary on being a woman that I was going to quote but I honestly could not find a reasonable place to cut it— it kept growing and getting better for almost a page's length. I also found Alderman's honest depiction of her mother's faults to be powerful and devastating. It reminded me of Zauner's Crying in H Mart, as her relationship with her mother was not always easy either, and sometimes I think complex relationships cause the most severe kind of grief.
I am glad I read this book, but I will be surprised if it's widely-liked. The addition of the mimmoths offers something unique, though I think the book might have been more easily enjoyed without them.
May 19, 2026
The Strangers by Naomi Alderman ended up being a much more personal and emotional read than I ever expected. Going into it, I thought I was picking up a science fiction novel with an intriguing premise and speculative elements. And while those elements are certainly present, what I actually found was a deeply meaningful story about grief, acceptance, memory, and the difficult process of moving forward after loss.
This book hit especially close to home for me because my own mother passed away only several months ago, and so much of the protagonist’s emotional journey felt painfully real. Alderman captures grief in a way that feels honest and deeply human. It’s not melodramatic or exaggerated. Instead, it’s quiet, messy, confusing, and ever-present in the background of daily life. There were moments in this book that genuinely resonated with me on a deeply personal level, especially the way the main character struggles with holding onto the past while simultaneously trying to figure out how to continue living in the present.
What impressed me most was how seamlessly Alderman balances the speculative aspects of the story with its emotional core. The science fiction elements never overshadow the characters or the themes. Instead, they enhance them, acting as a lens through which the story explores identity, memory, and human connection. The “what if?” at the center of the novel is fascinating, but it’s the emotional consequences of that premise that really make the book memorable.
The writing itself is thoughtful and immersive. Alderman has a way of creating characters who feel fully realized, flawed, and relatable. The dialogue felt natural, and the introspective passages carried a lot of emotional weight without ever feeling heavy-handed.
I also appreciated how the novel doesn’t offer easy answers. Grief is complicated, and The Strangers understands that. It acknowledges that healing doesn’t happen in a straight line and that acceptance doesn’t mean forgetting. There’s sadness throughout the book, but also warmth, understanding, and ultimately hope.
By the end, I realized this wasn’t really a science fiction novel in the way I had expected. It’s a story about loss and humanity first, with speculative fiction woven thoughtfully into its DNA. And honestly, I think that’s what made it so powerful for me.
This book hit especially close to home for me because my own mother passed away only several months ago, and so much of the protagonist’s emotional journey felt painfully real. Alderman captures grief in a way that feels honest and deeply human. It’s not melodramatic or exaggerated. Instead, it’s quiet, messy, confusing, and ever-present in the background of daily life. There were moments in this book that genuinely resonated with me on a deeply personal level, especially the way the main character struggles with holding onto the past while simultaneously trying to figure out how to continue living in the present.
What impressed me most was how seamlessly Alderman balances the speculative aspects of the story with its emotional core. The science fiction elements never overshadow the characters or the themes. Instead, they enhance them, acting as a lens through which the story explores identity, memory, and human connection. The “what if?” at the center of the novel is fascinating, but it’s the emotional consequences of that premise that really make the book memorable.
The writing itself is thoughtful and immersive. Alderman has a way of creating characters who feel fully realized, flawed, and relatable. The dialogue felt natural, and the introspective passages carried a lot of emotional weight without ever feeling heavy-handed.
I also appreciated how the novel doesn’t offer easy answers. Grief is complicated, and The Strangers understands that. It acknowledges that healing doesn’t happen in a straight line and that acceptance doesn’t mean forgetting. There’s sadness throughout the book, but also warmth, understanding, and ultimately hope.
By the end, I realized this wasn’t really a science fiction novel in the way I had expected. It’s a story about loss and humanity first, with speculative fiction woven thoughtfully into its DNA. And honestly, I think that’s what made it so powerful for me.
Want to Read
June 7, 2026Is it a requirement of an Alderman novel that you squint at the premise in disbelief as you read it? Putting STRANGE in "The Strangers," I see.
The new cover is a downgrade. Bring back the weird-looking creature. Stay whimsical and off-putting. (My mantra.)
Click here to hear more about this book and my other anticipated releases of the upcoming quarter over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
The new cover is a downgrade. Bring back the weird-looking creature. Stay whimsical and off-putting. (My mantra.)
Click here to hear more about this book and my other anticipated releases of the upcoming quarter over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Well this was something unexpected to say the least. This will be a Marmite/Vegemite book for sure. Some will like it and others won’t. I sit bang in the middle. I didn’t dislike it, in fact some aspects of the book I found fascinating and hugely engaging however other parts had me drifting off and wanting to get back to the fictional elements.
This book is Autofiction/b> which basically is a book that combines memoir/autobiography with fiction. I actually didn’t realise this when I started reading the book initially. Then it all clicked.
The Author is tackling some painful and deep personal grief, loss and challenges in this book and it’s quite moving but won’t be for everyone. Her “voice” and expression is raw and honest and I always think people are brave to put themselves out there so open and raw.
What I LOVED was The Mimmoths! Oh I adored them. I wanted the whole book to be about them. I hadn’t want an entire fiction novel dedicated to these baffling yet endearing creatures! One day an unusual looking creature (mammalian) is seen then another, and another and more and more until they spread in sightings from the Uk to other parts of the world.
They bring with them kindness, gentleness of spirit, comfort and a touch of magic. It’s very much used I came to see as part of the Authors story. There are some beautiful scenes like when a Mimmoth sits near the Author in the back garden and gently touches her and brings a great peace. They are a bit elusive. Scientists are trying to study them. They have positive impact on the soil, the environment, crops. They are freaking adorable.
Please bring back the original cover with the Mimmoth on! It makes so much more sense and more appealing. The book held me because of the interweaving of this fictional story with facts. I’m not sure if this would have been for me at all if it was just pure memoir, I’m not really a big memoir reader at all. It was certainly unique and different and I can’t express how much I’d love a whole fiction book around these precious creatures and all they bring to humanity.
3 stars from me. I sit middle ground with this one. I’d say to people give it a go but not sure if you’ll love it or not. You can’t not love the Mimmoths however. The Author has bravely stepped out into unusual writing territory and for that I applaud the book. Not easy to put yourself out there so openly.
Many thanks to the publisher Penguin for my ARC via NetGalley.
Thanks so much for taking a little time to read my review. Your likes and comments mean a lot to me. 😻 Feel free to add me as a friend or follow me for more book reviews.
This book is Autofiction/b> which basically is a book that combines memoir/autobiography with fiction. I actually didn’t realise this when I started reading the book initially. Then it all clicked.
The Author is tackling some painful and deep personal grief, loss and challenges in this book and it’s quite moving but won’t be for everyone. Her “voice” and expression is raw and honest and I always think people are brave to put themselves out there so open and raw.
What I LOVED was The Mimmoths! Oh I adored them. I wanted the whole book to be about them. I hadn’t want an entire fiction novel dedicated to these baffling yet endearing creatures! One day an unusual looking creature (mammalian) is seen then another, and another and more and more until they spread in sightings from the Uk to other parts of the world.
They bring with them kindness, gentleness of spirit, comfort and a touch of magic. It’s very much used I came to see as part of the Authors story. There are some beautiful scenes like when a Mimmoth sits near the Author in the back garden and gently touches her and brings a great peace. They are a bit elusive. Scientists are trying to study them. They have positive impact on the soil, the environment, crops. They are freaking adorable.
Please bring back the original cover with the Mimmoth on! It makes so much more sense and more appealing. The book held me because of the interweaving of this fictional story with facts. I’m not sure if this would have been for me at all if it was just pure memoir, I’m not really a big memoir reader at all. It was certainly unique and different and I can’t express how much I’d love a whole fiction book around these precious creatures and all they bring to humanity.
3 stars from me. I sit middle ground with this one. I’d say to people give it a go but not sure if you’ll love it or not. You can’t not love the Mimmoths however. The Author has bravely stepped out into unusual writing territory and for that I applaud the book. Not easy to put yourself out there so openly.
Many thanks to the publisher Penguin for my ARC via NetGalley.
Thanks so much for taking a little time to read my review. Your likes and comments mean a lot to me. 😻 Feel free to add me as a friend or follow me for more book reviews.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
Spoilers ahead.
Part memoir, part speculative fiction, The Strangers was an odd read. Alderman bares her soul and all the tragedy she has endured (the death of her mom after a protracted illness, many miscarriages, the psychological aftershocks of the Covid pandemic) in the way of a memoir. However, the presence of a strange, intelligent, kind species dubbed mimmoths and how the world reacts to them take the book into the realm of autofiction.
I'm still ruminating on this one! I found it deeply affecting, both as a memoir and a work of science fiction metaphor. The interplay between these two elements was stronger in some places than others. Alderman's prose was masterful and journal-esque, though at times her metaphors were so on the nose I found myself grimacing (but this is nothing new - for all that I loved The Power, she was similarly blunt in her metaphors there).
Overall, I found the book deeply sad. I, too, find the state of the world maddening, frightening, and often disheartening, but the ending of the book, in which Alderman allows the mimmoths to shunt the man who has figured out what they are doing (in essence, trying to redirect humanity by controlling populations who try to harm mimmoths) into a reality where he never researched them at all left me with mixed feelings. Are we so lost that it would be better to cede control to a (by all appearances) smarter species than we? I find calls for population control to fall in line with fascist rhetoric and eugenicists, no matter which parts of the population a person is calling to control.
Hard to recommend this one. I imagine Alderman's opinions are shared by many people, but I am not one of them. I prefer to be more hopeful about humanity.
Spoilers ahead.
Part memoir, part speculative fiction, The Strangers was an odd read. Alderman bares her soul and all the tragedy she has endured (the death of her mom after a protracted illness, many miscarriages, the psychological aftershocks of the Covid pandemic) in the way of a memoir. However, the presence of a strange, intelligent, kind species dubbed mimmoths and how the world reacts to them take the book into the realm of autofiction.
I'm still ruminating on this one! I found it deeply affecting, both as a memoir and a work of science fiction metaphor. The interplay between these two elements was stronger in some places than others. Alderman's prose was masterful and journal-esque, though at times her metaphors were so on the nose I found myself grimacing (but this is nothing new - for all that I loved The Power, she was similarly blunt in her metaphors there).
Overall, I found the book deeply sad. I, too, find the state of the world maddening, frightening, and often disheartening, but the ending of the book, in which Alderman allows the mimmoths to shunt the man who has figured out what they are doing (in essence, trying to redirect humanity by controlling populations who try to harm mimmoths) into a reality where he never researched them at all left me with mixed feelings. Are we so lost that it would be better to cede control to a (by all appearances) smarter species than we? I find calls for population control to fall in line with fascist rhetoric and eugenicists, no matter which parts of the population a person is calling to control.
Hard to recommend this one. I imagine Alderman's opinions are shared by many people, but I am not one of them. I prefer to be more hopeful about humanity.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Strangers features an interesting sci-fi concept, a complex narrator, and clear, unaffected writing, but is bogged down by unnecessary navel-gazing.
As much as I love the idea of the mimmoths, I found the execution mostly lacking. The narrator put me off for quite a few reasons, and I just couldn’t get into the big focus on family dynamics, personal losses, and various psychological hang-ups. The way it’s approached here is just plain uninteresting, and as far as devices go, jarringly unoriginal both in the context of the story’s setup and its genre.
I feel a bit bad for thinking so, given how autobiographical those parts seem, but if that’s the case, perhaps it’s why they're interesting to the author and not to me. Either way, it’s disappointing; the wonderful sci-fi weirdness of the mimmoths is already balanced, and enhanced, by the accompanying cultural commentary. Those parts are interesting and prescient, mostly - though painfully, neoliberally preachy at times, and that’s to say of nothing of a bizarre bit of throwaway Elon Musk apologia, or awkward attempts to gloss over the genocide in Gaza - and fit well alongside the mimmoth plotline. I can see how some personal elements are still needed to, you know, characterize the character; it’s just that the particular elements chosen here don’t work for me at all. Anytime anything interesting happens, the momentum is immediately undercut by flashbacks, recollections, and musings only relevant to the narrator’s grief journey, and not to the good bits at hand.
If you enjoy memoirs and magical realism, you might enjoy this too, but if you’re looking for fresh, story-driven sci-fi, The Strangers isn’t it. There’s a lot of potential here, but next to no payoff.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
As much as I love the idea of the mimmoths, I found the execution mostly lacking. The narrator put me off for quite a few reasons, and I just couldn’t get into the big focus on family dynamics, personal losses, and various psychological hang-ups. The way it’s approached here is just plain uninteresting, and as far as devices go, jarringly unoriginal both in the context of the story’s setup and its genre.
I feel a bit bad for thinking so, given how autobiographical those parts seem, but if that’s the case, perhaps it’s why they're interesting to the author and not to me. Either way, it’s disappointing; the wonderful sci-fi weirdness of the mimmoths is already balanced, and enhanced, by the accompanying cultural commentary. Those parts are interesting and prescient, mostly - though painfully, neoliberally preachy at times, and that’s to say of nothing of a bizarre bit of throwaway Elon Musk apologia, or awkward attempts to gloss over the genocide in Gaza - and fit well alongside the mimmoth plotline. I can see how some personal elements are still needed to, you know, characterize the character; it’s just that the particular elements chosen here don’t work for me at all. Anytime anything interesting happens, the momentum is immediately undercut by flashbacks, recollections, and musings only relevant to the narrator’s grief journey, and not to the good bits at hand.
If you enjoy memoirs and magical realism, you might enjoy this too, but if you’re looking for fresh, story-driven sci-fi, The Strangers isn’t it. There’s a lot of potential here, but next to no payoff.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Review of Digital Galley Edition
Naomi first saw the animal in the photograph taken in her mother’s garden. A large fox and an unknown animal. A cat? A badger? A lynx? Naomi put the photograph on the internet and received a plethora of suggestions:
A stoat . . .a weasel . . . a beaver . . . a capybara . . . .
And then suddenly it seemed to be everywhere.
When one was struck by a car and killed, it was examined and people began calling it a mini mammoth . . . a mimmoth.
Where did the mimmoths come from?
=========
Part memoir, part science fiction, this uncharacteristic tale follows the author’s grief after a series of losses: the death of her mother, miscarriages, COVID. The mimmoths are purely the creation of the author’s imagination, a way of viewing the world in a different way, of addressing her grief.
The author’s keenly-felt grief may be painful for the reader, but it is certain to resonate with readers who have suffered loss and experienced grief at that loss. Adding the mimmoths, the science-fiction aspect in this emotional tale, may be off-putting for some readers . . . it’s definitely a unique read.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#TheStrangers #NetGalley
Naomi first saw the animal in the photograph taken in her mother’s garden. A large fox and an unknown animal. A cat? A badger? A lynx? Naomi put the photograph on the internet and received a plethora of suggestions:
A stoat . . .a weasel . . . a beaver . . . a capybara . . . .
And then suddenly it seemed to be everywhere.
When one was struck by a car and killed, it was examined and people began calling it a mini mammoth . . . a mimmoth.
Where did the mimmoths come from?
=========
Part memoir, part science fiction, this uncharacteristic tale follows the author’s grief after a series of losses: the death of her mother, miscarriages, COVID. The mimmoths are purely the creation of the author’s imagination, a way of viewing the world in a different way, of addressing her grief.
The author’s keenly-felt grief may be painful for the reader, but it is certain to resonate with readers who have suffered loss and experienced grief at that loss. Adding the mimmoths, the science-fiction aspect in this emotional tale, may be off-putting for some readers . . . it’s definitely a unique read.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#TheStrangers #NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
What if you could work your way through the difficult times in your life through your novels? Naomi Alderman is doing that in The Strangers - or at least appears to be - and did it well.
The Strangers opens with the first-person account of a strange animal appearing in the protagonist's backyard in Great Britain (her garden, I suppose). She posts a picture and starts a flurry of recognition and investigation. It turns out an entirely new species of furry, flexible-nosed animals have suddenly appeared in Great Britain, and begin to spread throughout the world. They have the power to appear and disappear at will, soothe people's anxiety, and eventually produce many other useful side benefits (no spoilers!). The debate rages - are the mimmoths (mini-mammoths, natch) aliens? Ancient animals released from the thawing ice caps? Genetically engineered products? Half the book is this exact debate, which is (of course) never resolved.
The mimmoths (which is an interesting enough plots) interweaves with the protagonist's own difficulty with her mother's recent death, her father's growing dementia, the COVID crisis, and two Trump presidencies. I read Alderman's novel The Power but didn't know much about the author herself. It took me a solid chunk of the book to realize that the protagonist is Alderman herself (or a ficticious version of herself, or not?). This would be trite and hokey in almost any author, but Alderman, unbelievably, makes it work. The mystery of the mimmoths helps move the reader through meditations on grief and loss, aging, politics, and religion. A wholly unique work that helps the author process her trauma, and provides a particular story that can help mirror our own personal and global grief.
The Strangers opens with the first-person account of a strange animal appearing in the protagonist's backyard in Great Britain (her garden, I suppose). She posts a picture and starts a flurry of recognition and investigation. It turns out an entirely new species of furry, flexible-nosed animals have suddenly appeared in Great Britain, and begin to spread throughout the world. They have the power to appear and disappear at will, soothe people's anxiety, and eventually produce many other useful side benefits (no spoilers!). The debate rages - are the mimmoths (mini-mammoths, natch) aliens? Ancient animals released from the thawing ice caps? Genetically engineered products? Half the book is this exact debate, which is (of course) never resolved.
The mimmoths (which is an interesting enough plots) interweaves with the protagonist's own difficulty with her mother's recent death, her father's growing dementia, the COVID crisis, and two Trump presidencies. I read Alderman's novel The Power but didn't know much about the author herself. It took me a solid chunk of the book to realize that the protagonist is Alderman herself (or a ficticious version of herself, or not?). This would be trite and hokey in almost any author, but Alderman, unbelievably, makes it work. The mystery of the mimmoths helps move the reader through meditations on grief and loss, aging, politics, and religion. A wholly unique work that helps the author process her trauma, and provides a particular story that can help mirror our own personal and global grief.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Tough one.
I guess I'd have to say that I appreciated it, but didn't necessarily like it all that much.
Couched within a fictional science fiction tale about strange creatures that suddenly appear on earth is a deeply personal study on grief and mourning, peppered with what appear to be autobiographical details. I truly hope that it was cathartic to the author and it certainly reads as intimate, but it's also heavy and unyielding.
Our mimmiths struck me as very precious...and I don't love precious. I do think other readers will love them and love what they represent, but they simply didn't strike the intended chord with me.
In the end, it felt very much like the author was going through something intense and personal, but it never really felt like she got where she needed to be.
The book certainly made me sad. It also felt like something that was not meant to be shared.
I guess I'd have to say that I appreciated it, but didn't necessarily like it all that much.
Couched within a fictional science fiction tale about strange creatures that suddenly appear on earth is a deeply personal study on grief and mourning, peppered with what appear to be autobiographical details. I truly hope that it was cathartic to the author and it certainly reads as intimate, but it's also heavy and unyielding.
Our mimmiths struck me as very precious...and I don't love precious. I do think other readers will love them and love what they represent, but they simply didn't strike the intended chord with me.
In the end, it felt very much like the author was going through something intense and personal, but it never really felt like she got where she needed to be.
The book certainly made me sad. It also felt like something that was not meant to be shared.
June 19, 2026
4.5 🌟 This book was nothing that I had expected but everything that I didn’t know that I needed! There is no genre for this book as it is part memoir and part (possible) fiction.? All I know is that Naomi Alderman made me feel things that I thought long buried. This is a book about grief, about memories, about time and connection. This is a story about rediscovering who we are to ourselves as well as our connection to others. This is a story about grief for lives lost as well as those that were never given the chance to begin. The magical mimmoths add another level, a commentary about people and society as a whole and how we work to find our place in it. How do the creatures we share this planet with show us out truest nature? Are they the animals or are we? It’s imperative that we hold on to memories of the past but also see how they can be our guide to our future. Most of all this is a story about gratitude and our desire to find the magic in the world and Just Believe! Absolutely stunning!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It was a very fast read, and the premise did nab me right away. The author includes some thought-provoking ideas from the start, particularly questions on human behavior, society, and how we react to the unknown. There are tons of ideas throughout the book, and as a result, the characters didn't really form for me. I found it hard to stay fully engaged with the book, probably because I am a data and facts person, and the author was pushing me to suspend disbelief in parts, which is not something that comes easily to me. If you like originality and reading something that leaves you with more questions than answers, this would be a great book for you. Could make a great book club pick as I think the discussion would be healthy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin, and Naomi Alderman for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Strangers is one of the most unique books I've read this year. While it introduces a fascinating speculative premise, the heart of the story lies in its exploration of grief, humanity, and our need to make sense of the unknown. Naomi Alderman blends the personal with the extraordinary in a way that feels thoughtful and immersive. Readers who enjoy literary speculative fiction that raises big questions while remaining emotionally grounded will find a lot to appreciate here.
The Strangers is one of the most unique books I've read this year. While it introduces a fascinating speculative premise, the heart of the story lies in its exploration of grief, humanity, and our need to make sense of the unknown. Naomi Alderman blends the personal with the extraordinary in a way that feels thoughtful and immersive. Readers who enjoy literary speculative fiction that raises big questions while remaining emotionally grounded will find a lot to appreciate here.
June 9, 2026
2.5 rounded up.
I’m not mad at a book that merges memoir with fiction but the end result left me a little lacking on both counts. I really liked the concept of the mimmoths but it took a while to get off the ground and then left me wanting more. I also felt like I would have been interested to hear more about her Orthodox upbringing which also didn’t really get mentioned for a while and then felt quite pivotal to who she is.
I’m not mad at a book that merges memoir with fiction but the end result left me a little lacking on both counts. I really liked the concept of the mimmoths but it took a while to get off the ground and then left me wanting more. I also felt like I would have been interested to hear more about her Orthodox upbringing which also didn’t really get mentioned for a while and then felt quite pivotal to who she is.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Two and a half stars rounded up to three. Naomi Alderman takes a picture in her parents back garden of a strange animal. First they started showing up in Great Britain, but then in other countries, too. Why are they here and what do they want?
This is a book I wish I had not finished. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. I rounded up to three stars, because it was well written. Not for me.
This is a book I wish I had not finished. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. I rounded up to three stars, because it was well written. Not for me.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I received a free copy of, The Strangers, by Naomi Alderman, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Imagine finding a new species, called Mimmoths, miniature Mammoths, in this day and age. Naomi has not had an easy time, losing her mother, covid, and more, this is a sad at times but hopeful memoir.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Reading this book on Mother's Day was maybe the best/worst choice I could have made. Utterly breathtaking, with Margaret Atwood (a la Oryx and Crake) by way of Emily St. John Mandel yet utterly, unabashedly new and real in its take on motherhood, memory, loss, and rebirth.
Want to Read
June 6, 2026I want to thank the author and publisher, Little, Brown and Company, for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
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