'READING THIS TERRIFIC, ORWELLIAN NOVEL YOU ALMOST HOLD YOUR BREATH' Bel Mooney

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

'A TRIUMPH' Amanda Craig
'CONVINCING AND GRIPPING' Elizabeth Buchan
'BRILLIANTLY IMAGINED' Clare Chambers
'TERRIFIC HEROINE' Adèle Geras
'VIVIDLY IMAGINED' Nicci French

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 to find the source of this rebellion and ensure that it is quashed.

'THE MOST IMPORTANT FEMINIST NOVEL IN DECADES' Jane Harris
'A VERY SMART REIMAGINED HISTORY' Henry Porter
'BRIMMING WITH CRACKLING DETAIL, A GRIPPING THRILLER' Miranda Carter

"Clever and steeped in historical insight" - The Times, book of the month

"For fans of dystopian stories (think Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman) this one's a must-read" - Cosmopolitan

"Revelatory page-turning reading" - Observer

"Powerfully imagined" - Sunday Times

"A richly imagined treat" - Independent

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

"An absorbing, Orwellian dystopia that makes a good case for the subversive power of literature" - Guardian

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

" Hugely atmospheric, rich in the way it evokes an austerity Britain that's both familiar and, because of the possibility of a grim fate for saying or doing the wrong thing, chilling" - SFX

"Carey's meticulously-constructed alternative Britain in the 1950s is a huge imaginative feat" - Independent

"Chilling and challenging in equal measure" - Woman & Home

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A "what if?" dystopian novel which will send shivers down your spine

"A heady mixture: part romantic thriller, partly a book about the power of literature, an alternative history and, overall, a chilling piece of dystopian fiction" - SHOTS

"The power of words is at the heart of this terrific and sometimes terrifying novel" - Sci Fi Bulletin

"Astonishing" - Perspective

"Widowland is a cut above the rest" - Noon Bookclub