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PopCo
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PopCo (2004) (edit title/settings)

by Scarlett Thomas (Author) (edit contributors)

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PopCo tells the story of Alice Butler-a subversively smart girl in our commercial-soaked world who grows from recluse 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... read more

Summary edit see section history

Alice Butler is an employee of PopCo, the world's third biggest toy manufacturer. She is responsible for designing toys based on spy, detective and outdoor genre. The book starts just before the PopCo employees go to a retreat in Dartmoor, at one of the mansion homes of PopCo's director,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Alice Butler is an employee of PopCo, the world's third biggest toy manufacturer. She is responsible for designing toys based on spy, detective and outdoor genre. The book starts just before the PopCo employees go to a retreat in Dartmoor, at one of the mansion homes of PopCo's director, Mac. At the retreat, Alice and several others including her friend from work Dan and a mysterious woman called Esther, are told they will be staying at the mansion indefinitely. Their task is to design a product for teenage girls, a market niche that PopCo has struggled to appeal to. The selected staff begin to take part in lateral thinking and creative thought ideas, as well as team building. They are all trying to work out why they have been selected, as most of them have never tried to design products for teenage girls before. Alice has sex with one of the other people selected to stay behind, a man called Dan who she has made a mental connection with.

Flashbacks of Alice's childhood show that her father left mysteriously one day, leaving Alice to be looked after by her grandparents. Her grandfather taught her about codes. Alice wears a strange necklace which has a code on it that she has been unable to crack. Her grandad told her it was important that she never take it off.

Alice receives a coded message in her room, which she solves. It reads 'I knew you would be able to read this'. Alice is unsettled by this. Another flashback shows Alice living with her grandparents. While on the way to school one day some suspicious men question Alice about her grandparents' address, but Alice catches them in a lie about how they new her grandparents, and she runs to the police station. Frightened, Alice wants an explanation from her grandparents. It is revealed that Alice's grandmother is a gifted mathematician who worked on cracking the enigma machine at Bletchley Park during World War II. Her grandfather is a genius cryptanalyst who was not allowed to work at Bletchley Park due to his rebellious temperament, and instead worked with British spies. After the war, and after 35 years of trying, her grandfather solved the Stephenson/Heath code, but refused to share the answer with anyone for moral reasons. This has led to people wanting to get the knowledge from him, as it supposedly reveals the location of buried treasure. The Alice necklace wears is a key to this code.

Back in the present, Alice receives another strange note. This one asks her for help in writing longer messages. Alice is confused as she does not know who the sender of these notes is, or how to contact them.

The novel continues to move backwards in forwards in time, covering Alice's efforts to fit in and then be unique while at high school, college and university. At PopCo Towers in Dartmoor the mysterious notes are revealed to be from the co-worked of Alice's lover, Ben. She is a member of NoCo, an anti-corporation undergrouond resistance group that works to bring down big corporations from within. She wants Alice to join them so they can send messages in code. Alice agrees to join, and also to continue her relation with Ben, but decided to quit PopCo, unhappy with the corporate lies. She also solves the puzzle her grandfather left her, and finds out the location of Stephenson's treasure, which is in a bird sanctuary. Alice chooses for the bird sanctuary to keep the money, and decides to write a book, which is revealed to be the novel you are reading.

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Organizations edit see section history

  • PopCo: The world's third biggest toy manufacturer.

First Sentence edit see section history

Paddington Station feels like it should be shut.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Scarlett Thomas (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Country: England
Publication Date: August 2, 2004
ISBN: 1841157635
Page Count: 448

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR6120.H66 P67
  • Dewey: 823.92

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Casual sex and drugs use.

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