Allegiance
By: Erika Raskin
It’s 2025, and America teeters on the brink of fascism. Natalie Morrow watches in alarm as her son Augie and daughter-in-law Nicole turn a blind eye to the encroaching signs of tyranny, clinging to a dangerous hope that things will somehow improve. Natalie can’t do this; she refuses to gamble with the safety of her grandchildren. Instead, she makes an unfathomable decision: to flee to Canada and take Liam and Charli with her.
Embarking on this fraught mission, she’s fully aware of its ramifications but determined to shield her cherished grandtwins from the fate she believes awaits them in a country she still loves but no longer recognizes.
Meanwhile, her other son, Finn, has been MIA for months. A radio podcaster, he’s gone deep undercover to infiltrate a compound of radical white nationalists, risking everything to expose their violent agenda.
As mother and sons’ paths converge and the stakes escalate, Allegiance becomes a pulse-pounding tale of resistance, sacrifice, and the enduring power of family. Will Natalie and her grandchildren find sanctuary beyond America’s borders, away from the new regime, or will the fight for survival lead them deeper into the heart of the ongoing storm? And who, in the end, merits our ultimate loyalty?
Praise
"A captivating and chilling read. Erika Raskin exposes what we should already know, cults masquerading as religions are ubiquitous, democracies can collapse with cult-like leaders."
- Congresswoman Jackie Speier (Ret.), Survivor, Jonestown
“A chilling novelistic rendering of the How It Started/ How it’s Going decline of American democracy. This gripping story will haunt you.”
- Dahlia Lithwick, Senior legal correspondent Slate, author of NYT bestseller Lady Justice
“A fascist tyrant unleashes hatred and violence across the country. Neighbor turns on neighbor; families split into armed camps. In this chilling novel, Erika Raskin conjures an America careening toward chaos. Read it... and shudder.”
- Melissa Block, Longtime NPR Correspondent and Host
"Raskin has given us a mythic and cautionary tale that depicts a future she urges us to avoid by taking right action in the current moment. Grandmothers are at the center of precious few American political novels, that alone is a reason to recommend this rarity. But there is more. Raskin, raised in Washington, D.C., as the daughter of a lawyer-activist who turned the family home into a political salon, who is now a grandmother herself and the sister of a congressman, has had and continues to have, a unique perch to view the changing rules and tone in Washington. Agree or don't agree with her politics, you will be amused by Raskin's prose, and you will think."
- Alice Randall author of Rebel Yell
“In this chilling, tense, ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, Erika Raskin portrays the lives of two individuals, a grandmother racing to protect her family and a podcaster going undercover to expose the terrifying threat. Emotionally engaging and masterfully paced, this alarming story feels all too real.”
- Steve Weddle, author of The County Line