Morgan recommends... The Employees - Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken

Morgan says... Told through brief statements of the human and humanoid crew of the Six Thousand Ship, Ravn exposes the core of our humanity, in all its technicolour and emotional simplicity. A brilliant and fascinating curation of how we humanise and de-humanise one another. A truly exceptional distillation of the concept of person-hood by one of the most unique and gifted contemporary voices.

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On the Six-Thousand Ship, things have started to feel changed.

Since bringing aboard a number of strange objects from a newly discovered planet, the crew – both human and humanoid – have begun to feel a yearning. They want to be near the objects, to feel them pressed against their skin, but they also all now feel a curious new hunger for home: Earth, that place many cannot even remember. The Board of Directors are eager to understand more, and so instruct a commission to interview each of the employees.

Those who are born dream of soil, the smell of warm asphalt, the sound of animals and birds. Those who are made know only what is programmed, and yet feel it deeply, truly. As their testimonies accumulate, a tapestry of longing and quiet rebellion emerges, blurring the lines between work and life, between human and machine.

The Employees was the breakout novel from one of the most celebrated authors in world literature, and is now seen as a masterpiece of twenty-first century literary science fiction. In stark, pristine prose, Olga Ravn forms a timeless meditation on productivity, pleasure and what the far-flung future might miss.