{"product_id":"empty-cribs-nicholas-higgerson-9798264045493","title":"Empty Cribs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn a city where doors open only for the compliant and children are a line item on a dashboard, the cribs stay empty.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmpty Cribs\u003c\/b\u003e follows the slow suffocation of a modern metropolis that has rebranded austerity as care. The Stability Agency promises \u003ci\u003eFamilies Forward\u003c\/i\u003e-if you can clear the algorithms: a Family Formation Score, lease-first \"birth incentives,\" hospitals that flip between \u003cb\u003eACCEPT\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eDIVERT\u003c\/b\u003e, and public spaces patrolled by \u003cb\u003eNO STANDING\u003c\/b\u003e signs. Churches become rentable \"Psalms Rooms.\" History is curated behind glass. Every loss earns a green check.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgainst this cheerful machinery, five ordinary people try to hold on to nouns: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJune\u003c\/b\u003e, who keeps paper \"receipts\" of vanishing lives; \u003cb\u003eMaya\u003c\/b\u003e, a gig worker walking out her suspended license and timed-out appeals; \u003cb\u003eAnita\u003c\/b\u003e, reassigned from crossing guard to \"Civility Support,\" paid to keep people moving; \u003cb\u003eLuis\u003c\/b\u003e, hired to bolt \u003ci\u003eno\u003c\/i\u003e onto benches and stage crib props for marketing; and a \u003cb\u003efather\u003c\/b\u003e in an ironed shirt, practicing the religion of moving because permanence has prerequisites. Watching from the doorway is \u003cb\u003eSister\u003c\/b\u003e, repeating \u003ci\u003eClosed for stability\u003c\/i\u003e to a corridor that once held names.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold in precise, unblinking vignettes, \u003cb\u003eEmpty Cribs\u003c\/b\u003e is a ledger of disappearances-of rooms into venues, aid into policy, memory into exhibits, neighbors into metrics. It asks what happens to a society that prices shelter like luxury and parenthood like compliance-and answers with a record of what's left when care is measured, scored, and sold.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBleak, contemporary, and razor-clean, this novel is for readers who recognize the language of forms and know what gets lost when a city calls erasure \"progress.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nicholas Higgerson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798264045493\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/05\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 318\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.94lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.71d","brand":"Nicholas Higgerson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48997136793855,"sku":"9798264045493","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/empty-cribs-nicholas-higgerson-9798264045493","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}