The Mark

Reykjavík, the near-future. Society is divided by a development in social technology—a diagnostic tool called The Empathy Test that measures compassion or amorality. In less than two months, a national referendum will determine whether 'marking' each citizen with their results of the test will become compulsory. Four main characters—Vetur, Eyja, Óli, and Tristan—face dilemmas of agency and autonomy while navigating their everyday desires and duties. As the dawn of irreversible changes in healthcare ethics, socioeconomic stability and the cultural fabric draws nearer, the mark of judgment lays bare the balance of their personal and political loyalties and conflicts. Polyphonic and profound, probing and perturbing, The Mark is a fresh and confident take on populism, polarization, and partisanship. Powerful, compulsively readable and radically contemporary, it asks us whether we want to live in a world defined by faith in each other, or fear of the future...