Friday (novel)
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First Edition cover of Friday
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| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
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| Cover artist | Richard Powers |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Holt, Rinehart and Winston |
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Publication date
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April 1982 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 7875946 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3515.E288 F77 1982 |
Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person", the eponymous Friday, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans. Artificial humans are widely resented, and much of the story deals with Friday's struggle both against prejudice and to conceal her enhanced attributes from other humans. The story is set in a Balkanized world, in which the nations of the North American continent have been split up into a number of smaller states.
Friday was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1982, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1983.
The book's protagonist is Friday Baldwin, a genetically engineered human (known as an Artificial Person or AP) who is in many ways both mentally and physically superior to ordinary humans. Friday conceals her AP status as she faces great prejudice if discovered.
Employed as a highly self-sufficient combat courier for a shadowy private organization, her various missions take her across the globe and to some of the near-Earth space colonies. Friday is returning from her latest mission when she is captured, tortured and interrogated by an enemy group. She is then rescued by her own people, who tell her that her highly critical mission was in fact successful as her captors failed to find the data implanted in her body.
After recovering from the ordeal, Friday takes a vacation to visit her group family, composed of several husbands and wives and many children. In an argument over racism, Friday reveals to her family that she is an AP, and they promptly divorce her.
On the way back to her company's headquarters, she meets and befriends the wealthy Tormey family. Friday is their house-guest when a worldwide civil emergency known as Red Thursday occurs. Various groups claim credit for the assassinations and sabotage, but Friday later learns that it is the result of a struggle between rival factions within the ultra-powerful Shipstone corporation. Her last mission was to carry information about the attacks before they occurred.
Facing detention under martial law, Friday kills a policeman who attempts to arrest her and Georges (a member of the Tormey family) as non-citizens. The two become fugitives, traveling across the various countries of a Balkanized North America as she attempts to return to her headquarters. After several adventures, she succeeds in rejoining her company, leaving Georges to rejoin his family. However, Friday's boss soon dies and the organization disbands, rendering her temporarily homeless and unemployed. She learns that her boss left her money in trust, to be used only for the purpose of relocating to an off-Earth colony of her choosing.
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