Thrilling dystopian fiction from the acclaimed author of Widowland, 'Clever, thrilling, brilliantly imagined ... chillingly convincing post-war dystopia' (Clare Chambers). Perfect for fans of Fatherland and The Handmaid's Tale.

I won't give away anything more of the plot -- and there's a lot going on in this book -- but suffice to say that, as with "Widowland," this was a fast, absorbing read, with tension mounting as the the date of the Eisenhower visit draws near and the various plot elements converge. We get to find out more about what has happened to many of the characters we first met in "Widowland" -- including the Friedas. I finished the book in a little more than 24 hours. What if the British negotiated with the Germans in 1940 and created the Anglo-Saxon Alliance? C.J. Carey’s follow-up to Widowland takes you to England in 1955 that is almost unrecognizable. Women have been divided into six classes, from the racially pure who are destined for marriage and child bearing to the widows who are childless and confined to designated camps. Women are forbidden to smoke or drink in public places and their education is limited. In Windsor Castle, the widowed Queen Wallis is a mere figurehead, confined and closely monitored.

LONDON, 1953. Thirteen years have passed since England surrendered to the Nazis and formed a Grand Alliance with Germany. It was forced to adopt many of its oppressive ideologies, one of which was the strict classification of women into hierarchical groups based on the perceived value they brought to society. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, whose eight novels and 11 works of non-fiction make up an oeuvre that transports readers around the globe, and deep into the human psyche. His celebrated travel books recount journeys in the Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe. A voyage down the Amur River, through Russia and China — completed in his 80th year — is the subject of his most recent book. In his novels, characters are subject to intense pressures: losing their memory, losing a loved one, or losing their minds. The image of the solitary Queen was also a potent reminder of the scientific truth that wives, more often than husbands, are the ones left standing. This year that fact is exacerbated by Covid, which killed proportionately more males than females, so numerous women are now navigating the twin challenges of single parenting and the tedious yet hugely important probate with all its phone calls and bank statements and certificates. The War in Europe ended in 1940 when the British surrendered to Germany. In defeat, the people in Great Britain suffered the loss of the rights that made the England english. Germany created a caste system that rated all people in the country according to the value to society and to men. At the top we're the Geli Girls whose job was to prepare to be the wives and mothers of the the officers. At the other end of the spectrum were the Freides who were passed the age of fifty. They were used up. They were the cemetery people. They lived under the most austere conditions in a place called Widowland. The book is a little difficult to get through as there is so much detail. It's an alternative history but reads like an historical fiction the reader is already familiar with. I was confused in places because I didn't understand anything that had happened before the story began.

I think for me, it ultimately comes down to the fact that I loved the first book so deeply. I probably would have enjoyed Queen Wallis to the same effect, had I not read the first book. As a sequel though, it didn’t grip me in the same way. (Note: Definitely read Widowland before Queen Wallis! It’s not a standalone.) London, 1955. The Leader has been dead for two years. His assassination, on British soil, provoked violent retribution and intensified repression of British citizens, particularly women. Now, more than ever, the Protectorate is a place of surveillance and isolation―a land of spies. To recap/set the stage: both "Widowland" and "Queen High" take place in Britain in the 1950s -- a Britain that capitulated to/formed an "alliance" with Nazi Germany in 1940 and has been operating under a "Protectorate" since then. Memories of "the Time Before" are fading (and are, in fact, being deliberately suppressed), spies/informants are everywhere, and (shades of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale") women have been classified according to age, heritage, reproductive status and physical attributes, which determines where they live, the rations they receive, the clothes they wear, the kind of work they do, etc. The lowest of the low are the "Friedas" -- childless women and widows over 50 years of age, who eke out a subsistence living in the walled-off slums known as "Widowlands." (I would certainly recommend reading "Widowland" first -- you will get a much better picture of who the characters are, the world they live in and what's happened so far.) The premise was wonderful - what if there was no World War and Britain decided to act for Germany as its Protectorate? Women have been divided into castes. The protagonist is of the higher caste that allows her more freedom yet she has numerous restrictions to pass. Life in Britain is dull and grey. There is a shortage of everything. Our heroine has a good life in comparison to others.The alternative world is beautifully written, imaginative and a multisensory experience. The story is full of zippy intelligence and intrigue and the characters are convincing. It was easy to visualize a world in which Wallis Simpson was Queen, people spied on each other, books were banned and a caste system was in place. Women were breeding machines and otherwise useless. Main character Rose Ransom worked in the Culture Ministry and unlike most other brainwashed people made a point of remembering life before. But the cost was high. What if England just gave up when Hitler's troops took over Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and other countries? What if Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax formed an alliance with Germany and England became a Protectorate of Germany? That is the world reality in Widowland.