Popco

· Sold by HarperCollins
6 reviews
Ebook
512
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

PopCo tells the story of Alice Butler—a subversively smart girl in our commercial-soaked world who grows from reclusive orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world.

Alice—slight introvert, crossword compositor—works at PopCo, a globally successful and slightly sinister toy company. Lured by their CEO to a Thought Camp out on the moors, PopCo's creatives must invent the ultimate product for teenage girls.

Meanwhile, Alice receives bizarre, encrypted messages she suspects relate to her grandfather's decoding of a centuries-old manuscript that many—including her long-disappeared father—believe leads to buried treasure. Its key, she's sure, is engraved on the necklace she's been wearing since she was ten.

Using the skills she learned from her grandparents and teaching us aspects of cryptanalysis, Alice discovers the source of these creepy codes. Will this lead her to the mysterious treasure or another, even more carefully guarded secret?

“The code-breaking and -making heroine of [this] smart, engaging novel takes a critical view of the corporate marketing of cool . . . a captivating heroine.”—Publishers Weekly
PopCo tells the story of Alice Butler—a subversively smart girl in our commercial-soaked world who grows from reclusive orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world. Alice—slight introvert, crossword c...

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Ratings and reviews

6 reviews
A Google user
November 1, 2009
I loved this book. Took me to a trip to an industry and a field of study (mathematics) to which I was unfamiliar and entertained and taught me a bit about those worlds. Really loved it. Wanted to recommend it to my bookclub but the availability of it here in Australia through local library network was not great, so didn't. Wished I had.
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About the author

SCARLETT THOMAS is the author of PopCo and The End of Mr. Y. She has been nominated for the Orange Prize and named Writer of the Year by Elle UK, one of the twenty best young writers by the Independent, and one of the Telegraph’s 20 best writers under 40.

SCARLETT THOMAS is the author of PopCo and The End of Mr. Y. She has been nominated for the Orange Prize and named Writer of the Year by Elle UK, one of the twenty best young writers by the Independent, and one of the Telegraph’s 20 best writers under 40.

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