Widowland

by C. J. Carey, Esther Wane (Read by)

Overview

An alternative history with a strong feminist twist, perfect for fans of Robert Harris’s Fatherland, Christina Dalcher’s Vox, and the dystopian novels of Margaret Atwood

To control the past, they edited history. To control the future, they edited literature.

London, 1953, Coronation year—but not the Coronation of Elizabeth II.

Thirteen years have passed since a Grand Alliance between Great Britain and Germany was formalized. George VI and his family have been murdered, and Edward VIII rules as King. Yet, in practice, all power is vested in Alfred Rosenberg, Britain’s Protector. The role and status of women is Rosenberg’s particular interest.

Rose Ransom belongs to the elite caste of women and works at the Ministry of Culture, rewriting literature to correct the views of the past. But now she has been given a special task.

Outbreaks of insurgency have been seen across the country: graffiti daubed on public buildings. Disturbingly, the graffiti is made up of lines from forbidden works, subversive words from the voices of women. Suspicion has fallen on Widowland, the run-down slums where childless women over fifty have been banished. These women are known to be mutinous, for they have nothing to lose.

Before the Leader arrives for the Coronation ceremony of King Edward and Queen Wallis, Rose must infiltrate Widowland, find the source of this rebellion, and ensure that it is quashed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212004930
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	08/09/2022
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

C. J. Carey is the pen name of Jane Thynne, author of the Clara Vine series. She was born in Venezuela, went to school in London, and then to Oxford University, where she read English. She later worked as a BBC journalist before moving to Fleet Street and working at the Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Independent, as well as numerous magazines. She lives in London with whichever of her three children are around. Widowland is the first novel she’s written as C. J. Carey.

Esther Wane is a British actor and voiceover artist who, after a career in finance, fulfilled her childhood dream of attending drama school in London. She has narrated audiobooks in many genres, including politics, romantic fiction, and children's literature. When not doing voiceover work or acting, she can be found browsing bookshops. She currently resides with her family and collection of books in Hertfordshire, London.

Editorial Reviews

"Fatherland meets The Handmaid's Tale in C.J. Carey's compelling what-might-have-been new novel. In an alternate Britain living under the rule of a victorious Hitler, where English children speak German in schools and women are separated into pro-Aryan caste lines, heroine Rose Ransom earns her living editing the English classics to remove subversive or pro-female elements. Finding herself drawn into a secret underground aiming to strike on the coronation day of Edward VIII and Queen Wallis, Rose may just find herself in the process—what she believes in, and what she is willing to die for. Widowland is a compulsive, terrifying read." — Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code

"In Widowland, C. J. Carey has written an electrifying, Orwellian dystopia with a thrilling feminist twist. Carey renders a post-WWII alternative history that demonstrates the resilience of women and their ability to find light even in the darkest places. In Carey’s expert hands, one can truly believe that literature can change the world." — Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept

"Brilliantly conceived and executed, Widowland is a mind-bender of a novel about the power of literature to change minds...I loved it!" — Mark Sullivan, bestselling author of The Last Green Valley and Beneath a Scarlet Sky

"Storytelling at its best! I rarely come across a book I can’t put down but I devoured this one. It was The Handmaid’s Tale but even more closely tied to the reality of our world, showing what happens to women under a totalitarian regime." — Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author

"C. J. Carey takes the great ‘what if’ question of the twentieth century and gives it a wholly inventive feminist twist in this fascinating novel. With impressive historical research and thriller-like suspense, Carey charts heroine Rose’s journey from privileged subject to brave resistor in a world that has weaponized education, social status and even memory. Tense, thought-provoking, and terrifying, Widowland is about a woman’s search for truth in a world bent on destroying all traces of it." — Natalie Jenner, international bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and the forthcoming Bloomsbury Girls

"In a world where Wollstonecraft is banned, rebel women risk everything to reclaim their power. C. J. Carey’s Widowland, a brilliantly imagined alt-history dystopia where women reading is the greatest threat to totalitarian power, is a must-read cautionary tale for our times." — Samantha Silva, author of Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft

"In Widowland, C. J. Carey imagines an alternate history 13 years after England surrendered to the Nazis and formed an alliance with Germany. This chilling take vividly portrays a world where reality is replaced by fiction and literature is more threatening than the deadliest weapon. A compelling, page-turner that feels all too timely." — Jennifer Coburn, author of Cradles of the Reich

"Widowland is the perfect book for readers who want The Handmaid's Tale with a dash of Wollstonecraft. Carey has created an alternate history in which words are the ultimate weapon. Her literary references are a welcome splash of color in this gray world. Widowland is a convincing spin on a 'what if' story." — Eva Jurczyk, author of The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

"This utterly engrossing exploration of the subversive power of literature—part thriller, part dystopian fiction, part feminist cautionary tale—is a rollicking homage to women who refuse to accept being less. It could not be more timely." — Meg Waite Clayton, internationally bestselling author of The Postmistress of Paris

"A chilling thriller with an alternate-history twist...highly recommended." — Library Journal, STARRED review

"C. J. Carey’s novel, Widowland, couldn’t be more chilling—or dystopian—given the frightening political landscape confronting women in America and elsewhere. It is an important, and well-written book for our time… Carey astutely articulates, via her characters, her concerns about the fragility of democracy in our own times." — New York Journal of Books

"Powerfully imagined." — The Sunday Times, Book of the Month

"Revelatory." — The Observer

"Austere and low-key, Widowland succeeds when it comes to evoking the drab atmosphere of an occupied nation." — The Financial Times

"Austere and low-key, Widowland succeeds when it comes to evoking the drab atmosphere of an occupied nation." — The Financial Times

"Scary, pacy and packed with period detail, Widowland is a smart, inventive imagining of what might have been." — The Daily Mail

"This one's a must-read, set in an alternative 1950s Nazi-ruled Britain where women are placed in castes and history is being rewritten." — Cosmopolitan (UK)

"Don't expect to get much done while you're reading Widowland. Let Carey's expert world-building suck you into this terrifying dystopian society while the tense narrative (think: Brave New World with a feminist literary twist) will keep you turning pages faster than you can say vive la resistance." — Refinery29 (UK)

"Brings an intriguing twist to well-worn tropes...a delightful page-turner." — The Guardian

From the Publisher