Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman's Destiny (1889) is usually regarded as New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's first science fiction

Science fiction

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 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

. It was written by former Prime Minister of New Zealand

Prime Minister of New Zealand

The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...

 Sir Julius Vogel. It anticipated a utopian world where women held many positions of authority, and in fact New Zealand became the first country to give women the vote

Women's suffrage in New Zealand

Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late 19th century. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times....

, and from 1998 to 2008 continuously had a female Prime Minister, while for a short period (2005–2006) all five highest government offices (Queen, Governor-General

Governor-General

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, Prime Minister

Prime minister

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, Speaker of the House and Chief Justice

Chief Justice

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) were simultaneously held by women.

Plot summary

The novel describes the exploits of Hilda Fitzherbert, former 23-year-old Under Secretary for Home Affairs, and then Imperial Prime Minister, in a future where the British Empire has achieved both female suffrage (which New Zealand granted in real life in 1893) and become an Imperial Federation, apart from an independent Ireland, although Sir Reginald Paramatta, a villainous Australian republican, has his eyes set on the abduction and wooing of Miss Fitzherbert. Miss Fitzherbert foils the Republican plans, and then she falls in love with Emperor Albert, the dashing young ruler of the Federated British Empire. Unfortunately, their plans hit a snag when the Emperor refuses the hand of the female US President's daughter, which precipitates an Anglo-American war, which the Empire wins, leading to the dissolution of the United States and its reabsorption into the Empire, and the ensuing marriage of Hilda and the Emperor. Several years later, the Emperor and his Empress find that their opinions about male primacy in royal succession have reversed themselves, when faced with a brilliantly competent princess and bookish, scholarly prince as prospective heirs apparent to the throne.

There are large slabs of intrusive detail about the intricacies of finance and federal Imperial politics and the novel did not sell well initially. It has attracted posthumous recognition for its uncanny representation of New Zealand's female-dominated political, judicial and corporate executive hierarchies in 2000. However, the book lacks any mention of Māori protagonists, despite its other significant innovations. It was reissued in 2001, and the University of Hawaii Press published its first American edition in 2002.

Editions

• Sir Julius Vogel: Anno Domini 2000 Or A Woman's Destiny: Auckland: Longman: 1889.
• Sir Julius Vogel: Anno Domini 2000 Or A Woman's Destiny: Auckland: Exisle: 2001: ISBN 0-908988-16-8
• Sir Julius Vogel: Anno Domini 2000 Or A Woman's Destiny: Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press: 2002: ISBN 0-8248-2501-2
• Sir Julius Vogel: Anno Domini 2000 Or A Woman's Destiny: New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. Full text freely available online