Widowland by C J Carey

Widowland is an alternative history, which begins in Britain in 1953 in a coronation year, but NOT the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

In Widowlands, Britain is about to crown Edward and his American wife Wallis Simpson, although their position is dominated by “the Leader” (never mentioned by name, but clearly Adolf Hitler) and his “Protector” (leader), Alfred Rosenberg. The change here is that Britain signed a treaty in 1940 which led to the invasion of Britain by Germany and the removal of King George VI and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, all of whom have “disappeared”. In this new World Order, children are made to speak German as well as English,

The story is rather like Len Deighton’s SS:GB or Robert Harris’s Fatherland in that this is a world where Germany dominates Europe, and Britain. The difference here is that the story is less about the men but more from a woman’s perspective. This gives a modern take on an older trope and makes the book worth reading.

There is a caste system for women, based on the Indian social order. Here the importance of producing children of the right social background is imperative, although women are generally subservient to men:

“Members of the first, and elite, caste were popularly called Gelis, after the woman most loved by the Leader, his niece Geli; Klaras – after the leader’s mother – were fertile women who had produced, ideally, four or more children; Lenis were professional women, such as office workers and actresses, after Leni Riefenstahl, the regime’s chief film director. Paulas, named after the Leader’s sister, were in the caring professions, teachers and nurses, whereas Magdas were lowly shop and factory employees and Gretls did the grunt work as kitchen and domestic staff. There were a range of other designations – for nuns, disabled mothers and midwives – but right at the bottom of the hierarchy came Friedas. It was a diminutive of the nickname Friedhofefrauen  – cemetery women. These were widows and spinsters over fifty who had no children, no reproductive purpose and who did not serve a man. There was nothing lower than that.”    (page 23)

These Fridas are isolated and segregated in London into a place known as Widowland. Made to do menial work to maintain their existence, the women – out of sight, out of mind – live in poor conditions rather like an open prison whilst the rest of the world continues blissfully ignoring them.

To this we meet Rose Ransom, who is a young Geli. She is the mistress of Assistant Cultural Minister Martin Kreuz – it is accepted that senior members of the Party will have them, although leader Rosenberg discourages them – who has arranged for her to be given a prestigious post.

Though women generally are discouraged to read and write, as part of her work in the Ministry of Culture Rose is given the job of editing classic texts such as Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to make them more palatable for the new regime, removing all those old-fashioned values that are anathema to the modern day. Those aware of George Orwell’s “ThinkSpeak” in 1984 will recognise how this editing of the past defines the future. It has clear resonances with the world today as well.

One of Carey’s strengths here is that all of these changes to society are explained in such a way as to sound perfectly reasonable in this dictatorship.  The sense of 1950’s Britain seems like our 1950’s world but this is overlaid with the new values of a totalitarian state.

One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is reading how traditional British values are enmeshed into this new world order. There are little ideas peppered throughout the novel to reflect this. Rose’s own family, her father mother and sister and her family are all affected but seem to be mainly used to show us how the typical old British society is reeling to adjust to life under foreign rule.

Mainly though, Widowland is a story of discrimination and injustice, in a world where people are victimised for not bearing children for the greater good of the state. The idea of Widowland seemed at first to be a little unrealistic or at least far-fetched, until I realised that such situations existed with the Jewish ghettos of Poland and elsewhere during WW2. This is simply an extrapolation of such tactics in a fascist state during peacetime.

Rose is asked to speak to women in Widowland to see how the world of the Leader’s present has been evolved from the folk-tales of the past.

As we approach the day of the Coronation, there is a sense that below the façade of order and harmony there is a mood of simmering rebellion in the country, of unease and tempered violence. Rumours of an assassination attempt on the visiting Leader increase tension, and Rose, as part of her visits to the women, is forced to help to try and find the culprits. Although it cannot be proved, there is a feeling that the main threats are coming from the people of Widowland. There is graffiti appearing all over England, and Rose realises with a shock that they are quotes from forbidden texts, books that she has recently had access to. For that reason, she comes under suspicion herself.

Over time the situation becomes complicated when Rose realises that she can relate to what she is editing – something that readers of Orwell’s 1984 or those who have seen Terry Gilliam’s Brazil know may have consequences for her. As the Coronation approaches, she begins to question her life, her job and her relationship with Martin.

It is odd reading this one, now, as I type this in October 2022. In June of this year, here in the UK we celebrated the 70^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, much of the celebrations of which involved looking back at Coronation Day, which gave me some perspective to the setting of this novel.   As I was reading this, world events conspired to create a rather different situation with the sad death of the monarch, which again gave this book a certain relevance. I’m not particularly Royalist, admittedly, but the importance of a monarch in this setting is somewhat appropriate and gave an interesting perspective on this novel, many of which seem similar.

With all of this in mind, Widowland is an engaging and interesting novel that even though it is an alternative history brings themes that are relevant to today into the spotlight. It was difficult to put down once started. As one that has been in the pile a while, I think that I should have picked it up sooner.

A sequel, Queen High, is due imminently. I look forward to reading it.

Widowland by C.J. Carey

Published by Quercus, June 2021

400 pages

ISBN: 978 152 9411 980

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