GATHER THE DAUGHTERS

by Jennie Melamed (Tinder Press £18.99)

THE spirit of Margaret Atwood’s the Handmaid’s tale hangs over this arresting piece of speculative fiction, to great effect. A patriarchal dystopia run according to laws set by the ‘ancestors’ exists on a remote island strictly policed by the ‘Wanderers’, the only ones allowed to return to the ‘wastelands’ whence they came. Women have a future only as child-rearing housekeepers, submissive to men at every turn.

Four girls dream of escape. One questions the status quo; another initiates rebellion; a third witnesses something she shouldn’t; a fourth dares speak the truth — with devastating results.

It’s a chilling, vividly realised feminist novel that propels the reader into the dark heart of a cruelly repressive and sinister society.