The Windup Girl - Bacigalupi

This is a 2010 Hugo nominee.

With 'The Windup Girl' we find ourselves in the 22nd century, a world that is post-oil and faced with starvation as various food crops have been 'hacked' and devestated by tailored diseases. The story takes place in Thailand, where the capitol city is now protected from rising seas by an heroic series of dikes. It's not pretty for anyone.
The story follows several people, starting with an employee of one of the powerful bio-crop companies. He is trying desperately to gain access to a hypothetical seed bank somewhere in Thailand both so he can open up the country as a market and also to provide some genetic diversity to his company and make stronger crops. His way is blockaded by curroption and incompetence. And a huge internal struggle within Thailand.
Another pair of characters work for the Ministry of Enviroment and are charged with keeping the country pure from any kind of genetic invasion, either from produce or people. They fight against the Ministry of Trade and the battles that are waged feature every fear we have of third world governments.
Probably the most compelling character is a Chineese refugee who has fled to Thailand when his home and business in Malaysia were destroyed in ethnic purges. He is desperately trying to regain some manner of stability through a series of schemes. His story features constant danger and the reminders of his previous nightmarish experiences are never far away.
The title character is an artificial girl who was made in Japan and abandoned by her owner/master. Part of her design was to make her docile and she has become a slave to a brothel owner. Some very rough reading; she is not treated nicely.
In fact, the whole story is kind of brutal to everyone. Danger is in the air and sudden reversals of fortune are common. Incredibly compelling reading and it kept me up late so I could just read one more chapter. The world-building is well done but I wonder how much of that is a function of the setting. You could easily modify this novel to an 18th century timeframe and still have much of the same conflicts and drama.
This is a pretty good book and a very strong Hugo contender.