Stan and Charmaine are a couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of the economic collapse. The Positron Project seems to be the answer; they get a job and a house... for six months of the year. On alternating months, they must function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the test in a novel that brilliantly satirizes the corporate prison complex. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale In the gated community of Consilience, residents who sign a contract will get a job and a lovely house for six months of the year-if they serve as inmates in the Positron prison system for the alternate months… Stan and Charmaine, a young urban couple, have been hit by job loss and bankruptcy in the midst of nationwide economic collapse. Forced to live in their third-hand Honda, where they are vulnerable to roving gangs, they think the gated community of Consilience may be the answer to their prayers. At first, this seems worth it: they will have a roof over their heads and food on the table. But when a series of troubling events unfolds, Positron begins to look less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled. The Heart Goes Last is a vivid, urgent vision of development and decay, freedom and surveillance, struggle and hope-and the timeless workings of the human heart.