Jan 10th 2019, 11:17

Sweet Fruit Sour Land is an interesting and though provoking book set in the future. France has all but disappeared after Civil war and England has lost all power, internet and practically all food, almost we take for granted these days. The story starts in London where Mathilde having fled from France gets involved with George a government minister. The minister’s still hold glamorous parties with forbidden food and drink and at the beginning Mathilde gets swept along with the pleasure of it all. She soon realises however there is a price to pay for the lifestyle and that George isn’t the man she thought he was. At the parties she becomes friends with Jaminder, the pianist, and gravitates to her whenever she arrives. They become inseparable and when Jaminder becomes pregnant by Mathilde’s boyfriend George they decide to run away together and bring up her son as their own. Departing for the long trip to Scotland to escape from the rules and regulations of England they hope for a better life but it’s not to be. Scores of empty towns await them complete with scavenged shops devoid of all food and medicines they make the best life they can living on only oatmeal obtained by a low paid factory job. I really enjoyed the characters in the book and the way it was written but I must admit I did find the scene setting a bit confusing and unreal, with lots of unanswered questions like how & why did the war in France start, who is Mrs P, and how did England suddenly lose all power. Think beyond the back story though and you will find a read full of plenty of futuristic possibilities to really make you think together with interesting characters full of emotion.

'Set in a chillingly plausible post-apocalyptic Britain, Sweet Fruit, Sour Land is about what it means to be human when civilization has been destroyed. Utterly absorbing and with prose to savour, this is a novel that will stay with me.' * Hannah Kohler, author of The Outside Lands * 'A sharp critique of a hierarchical society... peppered with unusual, thought-provoking and at times poetic insight into memory, sense, questioning the status quo, including what feminist resistance looks like.' * Laura Waddell, Nasty Women and Know Your Place contributor * 'I loved this tale of London in the future and I actually can't stop thinking about it now I've finished... 5 stars.' * What Rebecca's Read blog * 'This sharp exploration of a dystopian London that doesn't feel so far from our own is full of female friendship, feminism and delicious description.' * Top 20 beach reads, MTV *