The wonderful 'what ifs' raised in this book... - What if the UK surrendered and had been taken over by Nazi Germany in the 1950s? - What if the people in the UK had no idea what was happening in the rest of the world? - What if women were placed into castes according to how useful they were, and had to follow every rule and regulation, made by men, by law? - What if some women couldn't read or write because they were in a low caste and not worth bothering about? For example, over fifty and childless? - What if books were 're-edited' to remove subversive words in order not to put any ideas into women's minds and to formulate the 'perfectly indoctrinated woman'? The main character, Rose Ransom, is 'lucky' to be in the highest caste, to have a job (she's a re-editor), and be a mistress to a Nazi. To be honest, despite those things, she doesn't seem to have much of a personality, perhaps it's just me? I would've loved to have had more of a backstory for the lower caste women. Having said all that, really enjoyed this book and it held my attention from the first page to the last.

I came to this book with no preconceptions. I had seen mention of The Handmaid's Tale when I first came across it, and having enjoyed several similar dystopian novels, I thought I would try it. The novel begins in April 1953, as London is preparing for the Coronation. So far, so normal. Then a couple of pages in, we are told it is the Coronation of King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis, and suddenly the world is tipped upside down. We are in a world where Hitler won, and Britain has been annexed to the mainland. This is a world where women are classified, according to their usefulness and child-bearing ability, with the lowest of the low being the widows and spinsters over fifty. These women have no use, and are housed in the dilapidated Widowland of the title. This is also a world where literature is considered dangerous. Culture must be controlled, classics re-written and no thought should be given to the Time Before, ('Old is bad' being one of the lessons taught in school). This is such a chilling read, more so than The Handmaid's Tale, because this is not set in a fantasy realm. There is so much that is familiar in this Britain, and it makes you wonder, if things had gone differently, would this have happened? This is a tense, edgy read, which I wholeheartedly recommend.

Thank you to Negalley, the publisher and the author for the free advanced e-copy of this book. Widowland is a gripping story that takes place in an alternative history where rather than Churchill taking over as Prime Minister and taking us into World War Two, an alliance is formed between Great Britain and Nazi Germany, with Britain very much the subjugated partner. The novel focuses on the way this affects women and explores the Nazi ideals of womanhood. All women in the country are given a rank within society: pretty women with the required blonde hair and blue eyes are the most powerful whilst older, childless women are the lowest of the low and given very little in the way of accommodation, clothing and food. Our protagonist is Rose. One of the elite women, who works for the government in the culture department, and is in an adulterous relationship with one of the high-ranking German men that control everything in the country. We follow her as she is sent on a mission to speak to the older, lowest ranking women. There were many things to enjoy about this novel, and I did enjoy it enormously. It really is the kind of book you can race through in a couple of days. The characters are interesting and, on the whole, well rounded. The setting is generally intriguing, giving as it does, an insight into what it would have been like had Germany won. I particularly liked the fact that women were given ranks – it reminded me of Brave New World and it is just an interesting concept. The fact that everyone knows who is which rank and what that means works really well. In a physical copy though, it would be useful to have an appendix where these are listed and explained as it is hard to keep track of what every one means. The plot was very strong – the story barrelled along and was gripping and intriguing – I was totally hooked and carried away by it. Other reviewers have commented on the novel’s clear links to other more famous works and for me, it gave me a strong feeling of 1984 and as I’ve said, Brave New World. The big comparison is, of course, Fatherland which I have yet to read! Due to its clear links to period it, in my opinion, didn’t really link with Atwood or Vox. It read like 1984 with a female protagonist to me and there was absolutely nothing wrong about that – and perhaps controversially – it had a better ending! The ending is very good – probably completely inevitable given its subject matter but I would have still appreciated an epilogue, unnecessary as it clearly is! One of the novel’s weaknesses, is perhaps its unoriginality, but to me that really wasn’t a problem as I enjoyed a different view of some classics. Another for me was the romance between two of the characters which could have been significantly better developed and believable. I like my romance intense – this one seemed ‘phoned in’… as though an editor had suggested it needed a bit more emotion so it was shoe-horned in. A real pity because who doesn’t love a bit of romance against the odds? Other people have complained a bit about some of the clichés – heart shaped faces, etc, and whilst I agree with these comments, they didn’t detract from the whole story for me. The only thing that bugs me, looking back, is the fact of the rations and the lack of things in the 1950s – if it hadn’t been for the war would there have been food and clothing shortages? Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this and despite its flaws, I give it four stars because it was well plotted, and I got a great deal of pleasure from reading it.

A dystopian view of a futuristic period where an alliance had replaced the Second World War. A caste system in place as a control mechanism and women’s role in society , to breed future generations then exiled to the wilderness of the widow lands. Here older females with no further use to society were prisoners to the lowest caste system, with meagre rations , slum housing, and no voice. Rose the protagonist works for the alliance, the mistress of a high ranking officer yet intelligent enough to question the status quo, driven to participate in illegal activities, and becomes slowly aware that each individual , once aware of political machinations, must decide where they stand and what actions they must take. Although explanations of the status of the country and the various echelons of society take up a large section of the book the story only gathers wings when Rose is imprisoned, interrogated and then decides to fight back. In conclusion a not unique idea of changing history to develop women’s role in a future with scarcity of men, imprisonments of personal freedom and intellectual thinking with the only choices left to intelligent and strong women to rebel against the system or to conform and die. The character of Rose is strongly written whereas the majority of other characters are shadowy players with little sense of presence other than menacing ambience in the overall plot. This in no way detracted from the ultimately successful conclusion which brought our tentative and reluctant protagonist to the ultimate act of valour. Many thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for ARC.

I enjoyed this. A new narrative on a somewhat dystopian state; the UK is not as we now know it, history has changed, and society now lives under the Alliance with Germanic ideals pressed hard into life, and external realities silenced. Rose's role is to edit classic literature, to mould it to the new ways. Women's independence must be suppressed and all ideas of insurgency quashed. Then graffiti begins to appear portraying messages of powerful women, and the suspects are in Widowland - those women who no longer provide any service to society. Rose investigates... This is a gripping and exciting story, all couched around history that is recognisable yet slightly different. Recommended.