Book Club: Does your novel give a balanced view of GM?

This is one of the book club questions for my novel A Column on Smoke. Please add your thoughts in the comment section below – I will be very interested to read them.

No, and I don’t believe a novel could or even should. A Column of Smoke has characters with a wide range of opinions and I hope that it will cause readers to stop and question their own views.

To me, balance is looking at the evidence around a wide range of views. It’s about trying to free ourselves of biases and preconceptions. To fill my book with unbiased characters would be entirely dis-satisfying.

All the characters are biased – they have developed their point of view based on their interests. Mel, for example, has a pragmatic view of patents and the relationship between business and biotechnology. Sally is more idealistic so doesn’t want this to be true.

Do you think fiction could, or should, be un-biased? Is it more important when a book covers an issue such as GM? In the case of A Column of Smoke, Which characters do you agree/disagree with and why?