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Off the Road
“Give this to fans of Lowry’s The Giver .”— Booklist
It is the year 2035, and kids are the only ones who matter.
In Tom’s world, every family has only one child. “Brother” and “sister” are insults. And the Oldies, like Gandy—Tom’s grandfather—are taken away to Memory Theme Parks. On the way to the Theme Park, Gandy escapes into the Wild Wood, the dangerous world outside their walled city. Tom has no choice but to follow. The wilderness is like nowhere he’s ever been before, and the more he learns at Gandy’s side, the more he Is the wall meant to keep the Outsiders out, as he’s been taught in school—or the Insiders in?
“Nina Bawden’s skill is placing a set of vibrant characters in a compelling plot seasoned with cold reality, the warmth of enduring relationships, and moral ironies.”— Kirkus Reviews
It is the year 2035, and kids are the only ones who matter.
In Tom’s world, every family has only one child. “Brother” and “sister” are insults. And the Oldies, like Gandy—Tom’s grandfather—are taken away to Memory Theme Parks. On the way to the Theme Park, Gandy escapes into the Wild Wood, the dangerous world outside their walled city. Tom has no choice but to follow. The wilderness is like nowhere he’s ever been before, and the more he learns at Gandy’s side, the more he Is the wall meant to keep the Outsiders out, as he’s been taught in school—or the Insiders in?
“Nina Bawden’s skill is placing a set of vibrant characters in a compelling plot seasoned with cold reality, the warmth of enduring relationships, and moral ironies.”— Kirkus Reviews
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
7 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Nina Bawden
64 books94 followersNina Bawden was a popular British novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a marine.
When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.
A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.
Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.
When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.
A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.
Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 3, 2018
It is the near future -- 12th June 2040, to be precise. Britain is divided, east and west: the civilised part, the Urbs, is separated from the barbarians in the west by a wall. Young Tom, an only child, is accompanying his parents and his grandfather north to a Memory Theme Park and they stop their journey to recharge their electric vehicle at a service station just by the Wall. And then 65-year-old James Makepeace Jacobs disappears through an exit at the back of the toilets. Tom feels compelled to follow his grandfather, and we're almost immediately propelled into the action of Nina Bawden's dystopian children's novel.
Tom's world provides an ordered existence, with everything organised and in its place, and that includes humans. There's a one-child policy strictly in force, so any reference to siblings, aunts or uncles is taboo. Workers cease working at 60 and have five years in retirement -- until the call comes for their enrolment in a Nostalgia Block of the nearest Memory Theme Park. Here Oldies spend a couple of days with their family reliving the world their childhood in a kind of virtual reality before they are left to be "gently and permanently cared for".
The author, clearly, is heavily hinting at a form of state euthanasia, but before young readers can fully assimilate this Tom's grandfather is on the run with Tom in hot pursuit. With this dark beginning Nina Bawden takes us in unexpected directions, with an apt ending I didn't see coming.
In her 1994 memoir My Own Time: Almost an Autobiography Bawden wrote of a constant feeling that "darkness and chaos threaten us all, lying in wait at the bottom of the garden, lurking outside the safe, lighted room". The Guardian obituary tell us that in all her fiction she intended "making use of all my life, all memory, wasting nothing" and that, if read in sequence, all her books were a "coded autobiography".
So, Off the Road draws from a deep well, from her experiences as a fourteen-year-old evacuee during the Second World War. She and her brother spent term time in Aberdare, in the South Wales valleys -- a period captured in Carrie's War -- while school holidays were spent with their mother on a Shropshire farm "where we were unreservedly, almost lyrically happy." Apparently The White Horse Gang (1978) was set here and later, I surmise, Off the Road, because Bawden specifically references Bishop's Castle and Montgomery, both in this vicinity, and more particularly Owlbury Hall Farm.
At Owlbury Hall Tom discovers an extended family he never knew he had. From being a soft urbanite used to clean clothes daily and all mod cons he has to adapt to country living as the 'barbarians' (as he regards them) go about seasonal tasks and making the most of daylight hours. But all is not as idyllic as Bawden's wartime Shropshire proved: instead of being the favoured child whose every whim had to be considered by older generations Tom discovers a patriarchal society where children are seen but not heard and women are just about tolerated. Neither regime is perfect, not the Urbs with their rigid conformity nor the Outside with its reactionary beliefs and roving bands of disaffected youths called Dropouts. How to reconcile the best of both systems?
By basing her story on real places the author has created a sense of verisimilitude for her bleak future scenario. The anonymous high place that features later in the narrative must be Corndon Hill, a prominent feature rising over 500 metres.
Owlbury Hall itself dates from the beginning of the 17th century with 18th-century and 19th-century additions. Her detailed descriptions of the farm show a close familiarity with the buildings and its surroundings.
The fact that Oldbury Hall almost straddles the Welsh-English border (Offa's Dyke is not far distant) is a poignant metaphor of the collision of two forms of existence, the rural and the urban. Tom, as he learns to adjust, starts to see the pros and cons of both ways of life. While there are pluses to living in the country -- fresh air, enjoying the fruits of labour and the cooperation that strengthens social cohesion -- it can be a precarious and isolated life; and while 'civilised' government can ensure certainty and convenience, the unquestioning conformity it demands can lead to mental stultification and intolerance of other states and unorthodox thinking. Other than set texts, for example, books are forbidden.
But Off the Road doesn't come across as polemical. The story's the thing, after all, and Tom's growing maturity, his new relationship with his grandfather and his experience of farm life and of new family members -- all distinctive and recognisable characters -- are a joy to witness, even as it is fraught with danger. There is a strong sense of authenticity in Bawden's narrative, rooted as it must be in her own experiences; and yet we must beware of accepting it all at face values. As she freely acknowledged, "All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story."
But do we agree with her judgement, that because writers twist events to suit themselves they are "terrible people"? I think not, especially if their stories reveal profound truths about the rest of us, and not if the those truths are appropriate to the events of a time she could not foresee. When Tom in bewilderment says, "But the Wall is to keep us all safe inside it. Not to keep us locked out..." he could be talking about our own times, about our own world.
Tom's world provides an ordered existence, with everything organised and in its place, and that includes humans. There's a one-child policy strictly in force, so any reference to siblings, aunts or uncles is taboo. Workers cease working at 60 and have five years in retirement -- until the call comes for their enrolment in a Nostalgia Block of the nearest Memory Theme Park. Here Oldies spend a couple of days with their family reliving the world their childhood in a kind of virtual reality before they are left to be "gently and permanently cared for".
The author, clearly, is heavily hinting at a form of state euthanasia, but before young readers can fully assimilate this Tom's grandfather is on the run with Tom in hot pursuit. With this dark beginning Nina Bawden takes us in unexpected directions, with an apt ending I didn't see coming.
In her 1994 memoir My Own Time: Almost an Autobiography Bawden wrote of a constant feeling that "darkness and chaos threaten us all, lying in wait at the bottom of the garden, lurking outside the safe, lighted room". The Guardian obituary tell us that in all her fiction she intended "making use of all my life, all memory, wasting nothing" and that, if read in sequence, all her books were a "coded autobiography".
So, Off the Road draws from a deep well, from her experiences as a fourteen-year-old evacuee during the Second World War. She and her brother spent term time in Aberdare, in the South Wales valleys -- a period captured in Carrie's War -- while school holidays were spent with their mother on a Shropshire farm "where we were unreservedly, almost lyrically happy." Apparently The White Horse Gang (1978) was set here and later, I surmise, Off the Road, because Bawden specifically references Bishop's Castle and Montgomery, both in this vicinity, and more particularly Owlbury Hall Farm.
At Owlbury Hall Tom discovers an extended family he never knew he had. From being a soft urbanite used to clean clothes daily and all mod cons he has to adapt to country living as the 'barbarians' (as he regards them) go about seasonal tasks and making the most of daylight hours. But all is not as idyllic as Bawden's wartime Shropshire proved: instead of being the favoured child whose every whim had to be considered by older generations Tom discovers a patriarchal society where children are seen but not heard and women are just about tolerated. Neither regime is perfect, not the Urbs with their rigid conformity nor the Outside with its reactionary beliefs and roving bands of disaffected youths called Dropouts. How to reconcile the best of both systems?
By basing her story on real places the author has created a sense of verisimilitude for her bleak future scenario. The anonymous high place that features later in the narrative must be Corndon Hill, a prominent feature rising over 500 metres.
Owlbury Hall itself dates from the beginning of the 17th century with 18th-century and 19th-century additions. Her detailed descriptions of the farm show a close familiarity with the buildings and its surroundings.
The fact that Oldbury Hall almost straddles the Welsh-English border (Offa's Dyke is not far distant) is a poignant metaphor of the collision of two forms of existence, the rural and the urban. Tom, as he learns to adjust, starts to see the pros and cons of both ways of life. While there are pluses to living in the country -- fresh air, enjoying the fruits of labour and the cooperation that strengthens social cohesion -- it can be a precarious and isolated life; and while 'civilised' government can ensure certainty and convenience, the unquestioning conformity it demands can lead to mental stultification and intolerance of other states and unorthodox thinking. Other than set texts, for example, books are forbidden.
But Off the Road doesn't come across as polemical. The story's the thing, after all, and Tom's growing maturity, his new relationship with his grandfather and his experience of farm life and of new family members -- all distinctive and recognisable characters -- are a joy to witness, even as it is fraught with danger. There is a strong sense of authenticity in Bawden's narrative, rooted as it must be in her own experiences; and yet we must beware of accepting it all at face values. As she freely acknowledged, "All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story."
But do we agree with her judgement, that because writers twist events to suit themselves they are "terrible people"? I think not, especially if their stories reveal profound truths about the rest of us, and not if the those truths are appropriate to the events of a time she could not foresee. When Tom in bewilderment says, "But the Wall is to keep us all safe inside it. Not to keep us locked out..." he could be talking about our own times, about our own world.
October 1, 2012
Set in 2040, Tom and his family live on The Inside, where children are revered and old people are shuffled off to Memory Parks once they reach their 60's. Tom is fearful of the creatures that inhabit The Outside... barbarians, evil trees, night creatures. But when Gandy, his grandfather, who got his paper informing him of his transfer to The Memory Park, escapes into The Outside, Tom feels he has to rescue him.
Once in The Outside, things are not as Tom was told. Life is simpler, families are closer and bigger, and contentment is everywhere. Gandy and Tom find Gandy's boyhood home, full of distant (and not-so-distant) relatives. Tom has to rethink his beliefs.
Whether being beyond the wall into The Outside is right for Tom remains to be seen, but he is confused by lies and misconceptions. A lot of food for thought in this short novel. It is a tiny bit out-dated and I am not sure today's kids would really pick it up though.
Once in The Outside, things are not as Tom was told. Life is simpler, families are closer and bigger, and contentment is everywhere. Gandy and Tom find Gandy's boyhood home, full of distant (and not-so-distant) relatives. Tom has to rethink his beliefs.
Whether being beyond the wall into The Outside is right for Tom remains to be seen, but he is confused by lies and misconceptions. A lot of food for thought in this short novel. It is a tiny bit out-dated and I am not sure today's kids would really pick it up though.
June 24, 2017
I liked this quick read. It's an interesting premise of a future world where children are the focus and the elderly are disposable. Wait, do we already live there? The book has a nice little twist at the end.
July 29, 2024
Needed a short book in between my longer reads. Very easy read, finished in a day. Cute ending, thoughtful characters and plot. Would recommend.
December 31, 2025
Interesting concept about how a society manages people aging. Quite a simplistic approach to some complex ideas. Kids book, not YA.
July 11, 2016
I find Nina Bawden to be a bit hit and miss, so I was interested to see her try out writing something different; a dystopian sci-fi book. The result is fine. Not great, not bad, just fine.
It's an interesting book. The opening is a little odd, but it pulled me in with it's interesting and realistic vision of the future. It held my attention, I mean, I read this on the toilet in a pub when we were having a family meal, then by the time I came out, they were all having dessert and I'd missed the boat!
Then the story moves to a farm. Sounds like a disappointment, but I quite like farm stories.
Apart from a couple of iffy word choices, the dialogue is very believable. Some of the conversations between the older characters and the younger characters weren't that great, which was a shame because Nina Bawden is usually really good at this, and it's a big theme in the book. The conversations between the young characters on the other hand, were really good. They talked like actual kids.
I also liked descriptive writing. I remember at one point the food was being described and it made me a bit hungry. On top of that, there was a good plot-twist towards the end.
This book intrigued me, then allowed me to relax into it. If you like Nina Bawden, or if this book interests you, try it out.
It's an interesting book. The opening is a little odd, but it pulled me in with it's interesting and realistic vision of the future. It held my attention, I mean, I read this on the toilet in a pub when we were having a family meal, then by the time I came out, they were all having dessert and I'd missed the boat!
Then the story moves to a farm. Sounds like a disappointment, but I quite like farm stories.
Apart from a couple of iffy word choices, the dialogue is very believable. Some of the conversations between the older characters and the younger characters weren't that great, which was a shame because Nina Bawden is usually really good at this, and it's a big theme in the book. The conversations between the young characters on the other hand, were really good. They talked like actual kids.
I also liked descriptive writing. I remember at one point the food was being described and it made me a bit hungry. On top of that, there was a good plot-twist towards the end.
This book intrigued me, then allowed me to relax into it. If you like Nina Bawden, or if this book interests you, try it out.
January 22, 2008
Gave up on this one- it was simular to many dark future novels (Devil on my back, the giver, 1984, etc.) with nothing overly unquie.
A child lives in a gated world that enforces rules about having one child and removing the old folk. It has myths about the outside where trolls and trees can attack people who leave the community.
Sounded right up my alley, but it was slow and not well written.
A child lives in a gated world that enforces rules about having one child and removing the old folk. It has myths about the outside where trolls and trees can attack people who leave the community.
Sounded right up my alley, but it was slow and not well written.
March 11, 2013
This story is about a "utopian" society like in "The Giver" but is not as well done. The grandfather escapes off the road - out of the walls around the society and back to the "real" world. His grandson, Tom, follows him into a world where people have more than one child and there are such things as cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. But as Tom learns how things use to be before the wall he wonders, is the wall keeping people in our out? Which is the "real" world?
April 7, 2009
Grades 5+. In 2040, 11-year-old Tom follows his grandfather through the wall and into the forbidden Wild where they find his grandfather's boyhood home. Is the wall to keep people out or in is the major unresolved question of this book.
January 27, 2014
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12452923
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12452923
November 4, 2015
This book is so boring and not that much interesting
May 20, 2016
Another great kids book that made me think
May 2, 2017
Tom follows his grandfather Gandy when he crosses the wall from Inside to the wild, scary Outside. Tom has been told his whole life that Outside is full of trees that will get you, barbarians and bandits, outlaws and outcasts, great hunting dogs with slavering jaws, trolls from the mountains, etc. But he is afraid that his 65 year old grandfather is losing his mind and doesn't know what he is doing so he follows him to get him to come back Inside. Inside they have quit teaching history, have banned books, treat children with higher regard than adults, especially the Oldies like his grandfather. Inside you are allowed only one child per couple so when he gets Outside Tom finds out that there are people who are brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins because there is no limit of having children Outside. Bawden is a talented, imaginative storyteller.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews