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Rose Ransom #2
Queen High
June, 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.
Every evening Rose Ransom looks in the mirror and marvels that she's even alive. A mere woman, her role in the Leader's death has been miraculously overlooked. She still works at the Culture Ministry, where her work now focuses on the outlawed subject of Poetry, a form of writing that transmits subversive meanings, emotions and signals that cannot be controlled. Therefore all Poetry is banned and Rose is appointed a Poet Hunter.
To widespread surprise, President Eisenhower is to make a state visit to the Alliance and Rose is tasked with visiting the widowed Queen Wallis to provide a background briefing. When she arrives at the palace, she finds Wallis in a state of paranoia, desperate to return to America and enjoy the liberty of her homeland. She claims she has a secret document so explosive that it will blow the Protectorate apart - but will the last Queen of England pull the trigger on the Alliance?
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.
Every evening Rose Ransom looks in the mirror and marvels that she's even alive. A mere woman, her role in the Leader's death has been miraculously overlooked. She still works at the Culture Ministry, where her work now focuses on the outlawed subject of Poetry, a form of writing that transmits subversive meanings, emotions and signals that cannot be controlled. Therefore all Poetry is banned and Rose is appointed a Poet Hunter.
To widespread surprise, President Eisenhower is to make a state visit to the Alliance and Rose is tasked with visiting the widowed Queen Wallis to provide a background briefing. When she arrives at the palace, she finds Wallis in a state of paranoia, desperate to return to America and enjoy the liberty of her homeland. She claims she has a secret document so explosive that it will blow the Protectorate apart - but will the last Queen of England pull the trigger on the Alliance?
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2022
46 people are currently reading
5853 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Carey
3 books138 followersC.J. Carey is a pen name of Jane Thynne. She was born in Venezuela and educated in London. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English and joined the BBC as a journalist. She has also worked at The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, as well as for numerous British magazines. She appears as a broadcaster on Radio 4 and Sky TV.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
July 19, 2023
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Fahrenheit 451 meets The Handmaid's Tale and they then mind-meld with Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in a world where Edward VIII with his Nazi sympathies never abdicated.
As a life-long devotee of alternative history, I've seen so damn many "Germans win WWII" ideas that I refelxively shy away from reading yet another one. This one, being the second in a series I didn't read the first one of, would usually get zero attention from me for both those reasons. The way this subverted my defenses was to offer me a golden moment: My abiding contempt for the Windsors leads me to be amused and more than a little pleased that things turn out badly for them in this story.
The idea that the American Queen Wallis, a rapacious, greedy person whose grudges were legendary, would want to give up her life atop the heap is so unlikely as to be risible; but this isn't rigorous allohistorical scenario design, it's tendentious warning-blaring. It's meant for the world with Erdoğan, Orban, Modi, and Putin trotting around unassassinated in it, to detail a few of the not-at-all unlikely societal effects thereof on decent human beings. Most especially women. Author Carey is excellent at the evocation of the personal costs of totalitarian rule based on religious "principles" and there's no doubt that the cult of eugenics, written into law, would function quite well as a "moral" force like religion.
It delights me that the job our PoV character, Rose, does is to bowdlerize literature and history books to conform with the prevailing power's ideological needs. The Power of Literature is immense and very, very scary to the Powers That Be. One thing I don't see discussed in pop culture is how extremely easy Rose's job would be now: Push a patch to all Kindles and Kobos, and the "subversive" text is in compliance with Their needs. Think that's far-fetched? Read some Cory Doctorow links.
The topics Author Carey deals with in this book are so very timely that I could feel them pulling me along as the pace slackened after about 35% of the way through (a converation between Rose and Queen Wallis). The last about 15% was fast-paced and exciting, but without my deep identification with the author's evident desire to bring home the existential threat women and Others face in today's increasingly fascistic world, I'd've taken longer to finish the read.
While I have cavils on the history front (why is Eisenhower president in a 1955 where WWII wasn't like ours? why is there no mention of presumably vanished millions of Jews?), I have none on the timeliness and urgency of the author's purpose in writing the book. I'll say that I felt slightly at sea occasionally. I put this down to not having read Widowland, so I recommend you do that first.
Rose is no superheroine. She's a very slightly moist, sometimes even drippy, everywoman whose moral compass isn't aligned with her culture's. She has the decency to follow it, and not the mob. She is, then, who we can reasonably aspire to be if the worst happens.
Well worth your time and treasure.
My Review: Fahrenheit 451 meets The Handmaid's Tale and they then mind-meld with Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in a world where Edward VIII with his Nazi sympathies never abdicated.
As a life-long devotee of alternative history, I've seen so damn many "Germans win WWII" ideas that I refelxively shy away from reading yet another one. This one, being the second in a series I didn't read the first one of, would usually get zero attention from me for both those reasons. The way this subverted my defenses was to offer me a golden moment: My abiding contempt for the Windsors leads me to be amused and more than a little pleased that things turn out badly for them in this story.
The idea that the American Queen Wallis, a rapacious, greedy person whose grudges were legendary, would want to give up her life atop the heap is so unlikely as to be risible; but this isn't rigorous allohistorical scenario design, it's tendentious warning-blaring. It's meant for the world with Erdoğan, Orban, Modi, and Putin trotting around unassassinated in it, to detail a few of the not-at-all unlikely societal effects thereof on decent human beings. Most especially women. Author Carey is excellent at the evocation of the personal costs of totalitarian rule based on religious "principles" and there's no doubt that the cult of eugenics, written into law, would function quite well as a "moral" force like religion.
It delights me that the job our PoV character, Rose, does is to bowdlerize literature and history books to conform with the prevailing power's ideological needs. The Power of Literature is immense and very, very scary to the Powers That Be. One thing I don't see discussed in pop culture is how extremely easy Rose's job would be now: Push a patch to all Kindles and Kobos, and the "subversive" text is in compliance with Their needs. Think that's far-fetched? Read some Cory Doctorow links.
The topics Author Carey deals with in this book are so very timely that I could feel them pulling me along as the pace slackened after about 35% of the way through (a converation between Rose and Queen Wallis). The last about 15% was fast-paced and exciting, but without my deep identification with the author's evident desire to bring home the existential threat women and Others face in today's increasingly fascistic world, I'd've taken longer to finish the read.
While I have cavils on the history front (why is Eisenhower president in a 1955 where WWII wasn't like ours? why is there no mention of presumably vanished millions of Jews?), I have none on the timeliness and urgency of the author's purpose in writing the book. I'll say that I felt slightly at sea occasionally. I put this down to not having read Widowland, so I recommend you do that first.
Rose is no superheroine. She's a very slightly moist, sometimes even drippy, everywoman whose moral compass isn't aligned with her culture's. She has the decency to follow it, and not the mob. She is, then, who we can reasonably aspire to be if the worst happens.
Well worth your time and treasure.
October 21, 2022
This book is the sequel to Widowland and while it’s written in a similar enjoyable way I found it not as good as the first. It follows on two years later and Rose has been promoted at her work where she rewrites poetry to conform with the regime’s values. Some of the opportunities she gets are way too convenient and not believable . But it’s still a clever and entertaining read.
October 13, 2022
For my full review: https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...
Widowland was one of my top reads of 2021 but with its electrifying ending, I never dared hope for a sequel. And yet. And yet. To my great astonishment, this cover image popped up on Netgalley and I leapt on it like a hawk. Further surprises followed. The franchise is still helmed by Rose Ransom who has miraculously survived the previous novel. It was with some trepidation that I actually started to read the novel however. Could Queen High possibly pack the same punch as its predecessor? And how on earth was Rose Ransom still alive?
The action picks up in 1955, two years after the Event, the term which the population have come to refer to the assassination of the Leader on British soil. Retribution was violent and widespread but somehow Rose Ransom walked away seemingly scot-free. She is still at her job in the Culture Ministry, still correcting literature to bring it in line with the ideals of the Party and has now been moved over to dealing with poetry too. The Protector remains in power but following the death of Edward VIII, it is Queen Wallis who rules alone, the last of the House of Windsor. Or is she?
In a plot strand reminiscent of Fatherland, a man has been found mysteriously dead in St James' Park. Detective Bruno Schumacher has been tasked with solving the murder, with extra pressure since the Alliance is due to receive its first international visitor, a figure no less than President Eisenhower and his wife. Yet he finds no shortage of people who might have wished for the death of August von Falk, a man who was head of the mysterious taskforce Aktion Regnans. Bruno himself has a certain lack of enthusiasm for the search, he is more interested in speaking to the Geli Rose Ransom and she is proving elusive.
Rose has a mission of her own. In fact she has several. The ministry have charged her to seek out an underground poetry network and to eradicate it. Her new lover Douglas has arranged for her to interview Queen Wallis, ostensibly for a biography and to brief her before the Presidential visit but in reality to inform on the Queen's supposed eccentricities and questionable opinions. But behind all of these, she is fighting against the Party's insistence that the Event be forgotten and that everyone black out the past. Rose wants to remember what happened that day in Oxford and her inner rebellion is growing.
Queen High takes on an unexpected significance following the death of Her Majesty the Queen, an event which Carey could not have anticipated occurring so close to release date but which she surely realised was on its way. It was interesting to imagine her as she is portrayed in this alternate reality, a fugitive figure fighting for her birthright as the true monarch. Her appearances of the page are fleeting but it is unmistakably her. A fellow rebel explains to Rose that Elizabeth is a countrywoman so has been content to bed down in stables and barns where necessary. I tried to imagine her late Majesty if the axe had indeed fallen and sent her on the run. I felt that Carey's description carried a truth. It is easy to dismiss the Royal Family as hopelessly privileged and out of touch. The behaviour of various of the younger members tend to confirm this. But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh both had personal experience of political peril during their formative years. The Queen had steel at her core, steel which held her strong through three quarters of a century of leading our country. She vowed to give her whole life in service to her people and she would not have abandoned us to evil-doers. I rather liked the image of Elizabeth the steadying hand recast as an insurrectionist, perhaps giving rousing speeches more akin to her namesake from five hundred years before.
Wallis Simpson in her later years
I can see why Carey returned to the world of the Alliance. Her world-building is intricate and incredibly detailed. It did feel a waste to visit there but once. We walk with Rose around London as she points out landmark after landmark which has been altered by the Party to suit their beliefs. The headquarters of the BBC has as its new slogan, 'Inform, Educate, Eradicate'. Nelson's column has been taken to Germany as have the Crown Jewels. The whole city is about to be razed and rebuilt as Londinium, the brainchild of Albert Speer. But still Queen High felt less finished than Widowland, finishing on an ellipses rather than a definitive full stop. Separated from the action, poor Rose seemed slightly adrift. In Widowland, her reading had opened her eyes. Why then has she fallen back asleep?
But what I have loved about this series so far is how it champions the female experience. The Friedas of Widowland decry the mission of the Party to divide the women by placing them in the nightmarish caste system - indeed it is these older women who carry the fire which can set the revolution alight. If a Klara (mother) is not allowed to speak to or even meet the eyes of a Leni (office worker), how can the two of them possibly discover common ground? We see this played out across our society today. We are encouraged to see divisions - the mother versus those who are childless or child-free, the young versus the old. Education, class, career choices - the media herds us into tribes just as surely as the Protector does here. And that is even without diving into the more toxic debates around the definition of womanhood. So there is a power in Carey's consistent message that we should speak for ourselves, to 'take the pen in our own hands' (thank you, Jane Austen) and refuse to have our story written by men. Like Widowland, Queen High celebrates the power of the story and of the song. You can never control what people find within.
If the previous novel felt like a standalone, Queen High gives clear signals that unfinished business remains. There have been few thrillers which have held my attention in quite this way and I will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment. Carey's imagining of this alternate Britain is fascinating, from the spiky-natured Queen Wallis the unwilling occupant of the throne to the palaces plucked bare by the occupying forces. The chilly atmosphere of Alliance Britain lingers after the last page and despite its unfriendly setting, it makes me long to visit once more. Just as Rose Ransom examines the classics of literature for subversive messaging, I have a feeling that there is a subtext or two of interest within this series the modern woman. Celebrating revolutions powered by females and fiction, Carey's dystopian Britain is a true delight.
Widowland was one of my top reads of 2021 but with its electrifying ending, I never dared hope for a sequel. And yet. And yet. To my great astonishment, this cover image popped up on Netgalley and I leapt on it like a hawk. Further surprises followed. The franchise is still helmed by Rose Ransom who has miraculously survived the previous novel. It was with some trepidation that I actually started to read the novel however. Could Queen High possibly pack the same punch as its predecessor? And how on earth was Rose Ransom still alive?
The action picks up in 1955, two years after the Event, the term which the population have come to refer to the assassination of the Leader on British soil. Retribution was violent and widespread but somehow Rose Ransom walked away seemingly scot-free. She is still at her job in the Culture Ministry, still correcting literature to bring it in line with the ideals of the Party and has now been moved over to dealing with poetry too. The Protector remains in power but following the death of Edward VIII, it is Queen Wallis who rules alone, the last of the House of Windsor. Or is she?
In a plot strand reminiscent of Fatherland, a man has been found mysteriously dead in St James' Park. Detective Bruno Schumacher has been tasked with solving the murder, with extra pressure since the Alliance is due to receive its first international visitor, a figure no less than President Eisenhower and his wife. Yet he finds no shortage of people who might have wished for the death of August von Falk, a man who was head of the mysterious taskforce Aktion Regnans. Bruno himself has a certain lack of enthusiasm for the search, he is more interested in speaking to the Geli Rose Ransom and she is proving elusive.
Rose has a mission of her own. In fact she has several. The ministry have charged her to seek out an underground poetry network and to eradicate it. Her new lover Douglas has arranged for her to interview Queen Wallis, ostensibly for a biography and to brief her before the Presidential visit but in reality to inform on the Queen's supposed eccentricities and questionable opinions. But behind all of these, she is fighting against the Party's insistence that the Event be forgotten and that everyone black out the past. Rose wants to remember what happened that day in Oxford and her inner rebellion is growing.
Queen High takes on an unexpected significance following the death of Her Majesty the Queen, an event which Carey could not have anticipated occurring so close to release date but which she surely realised was on its way. It was interesting to imagine her as she is portrayed in this alternate reality, a fugitive figure fighting for her birthright as the true monarch. Her appearances of the page are fleeting but it is unmistakably her. A fellow rebel explains to Rose that Elizabeth is a countrywoman so has been content to bed down in stables and barns where necessary. I tried to imagine her late Majesty if the axe had indeed fallen and sent her on the run. I felt that Carey's description carried a truth. It is easy to dismiss the Royal Family as hopelessly privileged and out of touch. The behaviour of various of the younger members tend to confirm this. But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh both had personal experience of political peril during their formative years. The Queen had steel at her core, steel which held her strong through three quarters of a century of leading our country. She vowed to give her whole life in service to her people and she would not have abandoned us to evil-doers. I rather liked the image of Elizabeth the steadying hand recast as an insurrectionist, perhaps giving rousing speeches more akin to her namesake from five hundred years before.
Wallis Simpson in her later years
I can see why Carey returned to the world of the Alliance. Her world-building is intricate and incredibly detailed. It did feel a waste to visit there but once. We walk with Rose around London as she points out landmark after landmark which has been altered by the Party to suit their beliefs. The headquarters of the BBC has as its new slogan, 'Inform, Educate, Eradicate'. Nelson's column has been taken to Germany as have the Crown Jewels. The whole city is about to be razed and rebuilt as Londinium, the brainchild of Albert Speer. But still Queen High felt less finished than Widowland, finishing on an ellipses rather than a definitive full stop. Separated from the action, poor Rose seemed slightly adrift. In Widowland, her reading had opened her eyes. Why then has she fallen back asleep?
But what I have loved about this series so far is how it champions the female experience. The Friedas of Widowland decry the mission of the Party to divide the women by placing them in the nightmarish caste system - indeed it is these older women who carry the fire which can set the revolution alight. If a Klara (mother) is not allowed to speak to or even meet the eyes of a Leni (office worker), how can the two of them possibly discover common ground? We see this played out across our society today. We are encouraged to see divisions - the mother versus those who are childless or child-free, the young versus the old. Education, class, career choices - the media herds us into tribes just as surely as the Protector does here. And that is even without diving into the more toxic debates around the definition of womanhood. So there is a power in Carey's consistent message that we should speak for ourselves, to 'take the pen in our own hands' (thank you, Jane Austen) and refuse to have our story written by men. Like Widowland, Queen High celebrates the power of the story and of the song. You can never control what people find within.
If the previous novel felt like a standalone, Queen High gives clear signals that unfinished business remains. There have been few thrillers which have held my attention in quite this way and I will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment. Carey's imagining of this alternate Britain is fascinating, from the spiky-natured Queen Wallis the unwilling occupant of the throne to the palaces plucked bare by the occupying forces. The chilly atmosphere of Alliance Britain lingers after the last page and despite its unfriendly setting, it makes me long to visit once more. Just as Rose Ransom examines the classics of literature for subversive messaging, I have a feeling that there is a subtext or two of interest within this series the modern woman. Celebrating revolutions powered by females and fiction, Carey's dystopian Britain is a true delight.
October 12, 2022
Widowland was a good alternate history that is based on a what-if: what if England and Germany were united and the nazi ideology ruled. It meant a different history and a women divided into caste according to their phisical perfection or fertility.
This book starts after the events of Widowland and we met again Rose, still working on modifying literature in order to made it ideologically harmless.
Even if the leader died the regime is still in place and Walli is the widow queen.
The plot that starts from here is complex and gripping. There's a lot surprises, twists and turns.
Some parts requires a bit of suspension of belief but I found the book highly entertaining and gripping.
It's the kind of book that keeps you hooked and never drags.
I think that there's going to be another part that I can't wait to read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Quercus and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
This book starts after the events of Widowland and we met again Rose, still working on modifying literature in order to made it ideologically harmless.
Even if the leader died the regime is still in place and Walli is the widow queen.
The plot that starts from here is complex and gripping. There's a lot surprises, twists and turns.
Some parts requires a bit of suspension of belief but I found the book highly entertaining and gripping.
It's the kind of book that keeps you hooked and never drags.
I think that there's going to be another part that I can't wait to read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Quercus and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
July 17, 2023
ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.
The narration of this book was spot on with the era and the voices complimented the story well. I feel like I would’ve connected better with the characters in this book if I had read Widowland prior to this. The story was interesting, as it feels like the past and the future come together to create this type of dystopian world and cast system. I would recommend to anyone interested in this genre, but be sure to read the first book before!
The narration of this book was spot on with the era and the voices complimented the story well. I feel like I would’ve connected better with the characters in this book if I had read Widowland prior to this. The story was interesting, as it feels like the past and the future come together to create this type of dystopian world and cast system. I would recommend to anyone interested in this genre, but be sure to read the first book before!
June 23, 2024
Ugh. The story line has so much potential in theory, but these books dragged. For 350 pages (out of a 370 page book) the main character walks around with her head in the clouds, being wined and dined by her high-ranking lovers. Then, in the last chapter, she catches the spark of revolution and takes drastic action to help the resistance.
I hoped this book (the 2nd in the series) would tie up all the loose ends from the 1st book but it didn’t. Both books felt rushed at the end and the author just stopped the book because she didn’t know what happened next either.
I hoped this book (the 2nd in the series) would tie up all the loose ends from the 1st book but it didn’t. Both books felt rushed at the end and the author just stopped the book because she didn’t know what happened next either.
July 17, 2023
Set in an alternate 1955, this was another interesting, completely compelling installment of the feminist dystopian/speculative historical Widowland series in which the Nazis won WWII and formed a stifling alliance with Britain where women are policed closely and proscribed caste-like roles based on genetics.
Fast-paced and full of frightfully possible restrictions (including censorship, surveillance, espionage and morality restrictions). This is perfect for fans of 1984 and Kate Atkinson's Life after life. Good on audio too narrated by Antonia Beamish. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review!
Fast-paced and full of frightfully possible restrictions (including censorship, surveillance, espionage and morality restrictions). This is perfect for fans of 1984 and Kate Atkinson's Life after life. Good on audio too narrated by Antonia Beamish. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review!
May 21, 2023
Hitler was sure that England would be an easy conquest. He planned to install Edward back on the throne, with Wallis as his queen; after all, they were friendly towards Hitler and actively pressed England to come to friendly terms with Nazi Germany.
It didn’t work out that way; England stood its ground and King George basically exiled his brother to a governmental post in the Caribbean.
But…what if England had gone the way of France, and allied with Hitler?
C. J. Carey’s Widowland fascinated me with its imagined alternative history, and the sequel Queen Wallis continues the story.
Under the Anglo-Saxon Alliance, Britain is colonized by Germany under a totalitarian rule. Along with the end of freedom of speech and reeducating minds, a caste system has been imposed on women, based on eugenics ideals.
Rose is a Geli–the highest caste, based on her physical perfection and class. Although women are no longer educated, especially in the liberal arts, Rose grew up with literature and art. She is the perfect person to rewrite literature to meet government standards. Her job is to transform Jane Eyre into an obedient and meek woman and remove poetic messages that empower free thinking into state approved propaganda.
Rose has forgotten what happened two years previous when The Leader was assassinated. The Event has been erased from history and memories. She is fuzzy about her role in what had happened.
It is 1955 and President Eisenhower and his wife are coming to London to meet the widowed Queen Wallis and tour Hitler’s new rebuilding of London into Londinium, including the ghetto known as the Widowlands, a grim place where barren and unmarried women are forced to live. Rose is asked to prepare the Queen, only to learn that the outspoken Wallis longs to escape her life—and has evidence that could turn American policy against reestablishing a relationship with England.
This feminist dystopian thriller kept me turning pages. I was fascinated by the detailed world Carey creates, down to laws about approved women’s fashions and allotted calories. When I consider state laws that are being enacted in America, it is chilling to consider a world where women are regulated to ignorance, powerlessness, and endless childbirth.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
It didn’t work out that way; England stood its ground and King George basically exiled his brother to a governmental post in the Caribbean.
But…what if England had gone the way of France, and allied with Hitler?
C. J. Carey’s Widowland fascinated me with its imagined alternative history, and the sequel Queen Wallis continues the story.
Under the Anglo-Saxon Alliance, Britain is colonized by Germany under a totalitarian rule. Along with the end of freedom of speech and reeducating minds, a caste system has been imposed on women, based on eugenics ideals.
Rose is a Geli–the highest caste, based on her physical perfection and class. Although women are no longer educated, especially in the liberal arts, Rose grew up with literature and art. She is the perfect person to rewrite literature to meet government standards. Her job is to transform Jane Eyre into an obedient and meek woman and remove poetic messages that empower free thinking into state approved propaganda.
Rose has forgotten what happened two years previous when The Leader was assassinated. The Event has been erased from history and memories. She is fuzzy about her role in what had happened.
It is 1955 and President Eisenhower and his wife are coming to London to meet the widowed Queen Wallis and tour Hitler’s new rebuilding of London into Londinium, including the ghetto known as the Widowlands, a grim place where barren and unmarried women are forced to live. Rose is asked to prepare the Queen, only to learn that the outspoken Wallis longs to escape her life—and has evidence that could turn American policy against reestablishing a relationship with England.
This feminist dystopian thriller kept me turning pages. I was fascinated by the detailed world Carey creates, down to laws about approved women’s fashions and allotted calories. When I consider state laws that are being enacted in America, it is chilling to consider a world where women are regulated to ignorance, powerlessness, and endless childbirth.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
April 26, 2024
(Original review, October 2022)
(WARNING: This review contains some mild spoilers related to the outcome of the first book in this series, "Widowland.")
"Queen High" by C.J. Carey is the sequel to "Widowland," which I read (and loved) at this time last year. It was released on Oct. 13th in the U.K. (in hardcover), but it won't be available in North America until next July (2023)(and under a different title too -- "The Last Queen"). (Personally, having now read the book, I think "Queen High" is a much better title -- but, not my decision...!) It will be interesting to see whether the North American version has any significant text changes, when it's published next summer. ("Widowland" did! -- and most of the material in the epilogue that was tacked onto the North American edition does show up in "Queen High.") I decided I didn't want to wait nine months -- so I splurged and ordered a copy from Amazon UK, and began reading as soon as I had finished my last book.
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.)
"Widowland" ended with the assassination of "the Leader" (i.e., Hitler) -- referred to as "the Event" -- and a bit of a cliffhanger as to the fate of our highly ranked heroine, Rose Ransom, who played a key role in his death. As "Queen High" opens, we learn that (somewhat improbably), Rose survived and returned to her job in the Ministry of Culture. (Of course, there wouldn't be a sequel if she hadn't, right?)
It's two years later (1955), and Rose is now a Poet Hunter -- poetry being a particularly degenerate art form that has now been completely banned. Additionally, she's been tasked with a special assignment: to go to Buckingham Palace and interview Queen Wallis, the American-born widow of the late King Edward VIII, and prepare a briefing document prior to the upcoming visit of President and Mrs. Eisenhower of the United States -- the first such visit since the Alliance was formed, which will culminate in the signing of a new treaty between the two nations. Overshadowing the upcoming visit: the recent murder of a high-ranking SS officer.
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.
As I observed with "Widowland," there have been other dystopian novels based on the premise of the Nazis winning WWII, and others focusing on controlling women and fertility. And I noticed that certain elements of the plot, plot structure & pacing of both "Widowland" and this book were very similar.
Nevertheless -- Carey does an amazing job of combining dystopian elements together with feminism, patriotism, and the subversive power of literature. (I loved how Rose procrastinates at her job, knowing that once she's "corrected" a book, the one remaining original copy will be destroyed. She's saving her favourite, Jane Austen's "Persuasion," for last. She sneaks peeks at a copy of "Jane Eyre" that's hidden in the carved-out pages of a Victorian book on birds at the library.)
It's a pretty heady mixture that deserves an audience in these increasingly authoritarian times. There's a lot here that will sound ominously familiar and relevant. I particularly found "Queen High" interesting in its depiction of an authoritarian society after the omnipresent Leader is gone, and how the world he's created carries on and evolves without him (and, in some ways, gets worse...). Also what it has to say about history and cultural memory (and forgetting)... who gets to tell our stories, and how... writers versus "Content Providers" (!)... oh, so much...!
I was debating, as I read through the book, whether or not I could give this book 5 stars. Then I got to the last few pages, which had me reaching for kleenex, for multiple reasons. Let's just say it's a very timely book that meant a lot to me personally, in many ways.
5 wholehearted stars on Goodreads.
I think that -- properly done -- "Widowland" and "Queen High" would make a great TV series, a la "The Handmaid's Tale." :)
*** *** ***
(Re-read, April 2024)
(WARNING: This review contains some mild spoilers related to the outcome of the first book in this series, "Widowland," as well as this one.)
"Queen High" by C.J. Carey (which goes by the title "Queen Wallis" in North America) picks up two years after the events of "Widowland." (See my review of that book for a description of the overall premise of both books. In a nutshell, the books are dystopian/alternative histories in which Germany conquered Britain in World War II.) It's 1955, the Leader (i.e., Hitler -- although he is never named) is dead and so is King Edward VIII. (Rather improbably), our heroine, Rose Ransom, is back at her job in the Ministry of Culture, "correcting" classic works of British literature to conform to the new regime's worldview. By some miracle, her role in the Leader's assassination (obliquely referred to as "the Event") has not been discovered.
Now Rose has added the title of Poet Hunter to her job description -- poetry being a particularly degenerate, subversive art form that has now been banned. She starts attending underground meetings where poetry is recited, circulated and discussed, invoking suppressed memories of her late father and the poetry he used to read to her. And she's been tasked with another special assignment: to go to Buckingham Palace and interview Queen Wallis, the American-born widow of the late King, prior to the upcoming visit of President and Mrs. Eisenhower of the United States. The recent murder of a high-ranking SS officer has the authorities on edge, desperate to solve the crime before the President arrives.
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 find out more about what has happened to many of the characters we first met in "Widowland" -- including the Friedas (childless widows over the age of 50, ranked lowest on the social classification ladder), Rose's friend Helena (who became pregnant by an SS officer in "Widowland") and Rose's former co-worker and lover, Oliver, who disappeared in the aftermath of "the Event."
The ending still packs an emotional punch (albeit not as great as it did the first time I read the book, shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II)(let that be a hint/mild spoiler, lol).
As I've observed previously, there are other dystopian novels with similar premises. Nevertheless, Carey does an amazing job of combining dystopian elements with feminism, patriotism, and the subversive power of literature. There's a lot here that will sound ominously familiar and highly relevant. I would love to see these novels being read more widely!
4.5 stars this time around, but rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads (my original rating).
Text note: As I mentioned in my earlier review, I noticed some differences between the original U.K. hardcover version of "Widowland" (published by Quercus) and the North American edition (published in paperback and digital formats by Sourcebooks) -- most notably at the very end. I first noticed this when the North American paperback version came out (I already had the original hardcover edition from the U.K.).
I wasn't consciously looking for differences between the U.K. & North American versions of "Queen High/Queen Wallis" as I re-read it (I originally read the UK hardcover, but chose the digital North American version, this time around) -- but last night, after I finished the book & turned out the lights and lay in bed, it struck me that I hadn't noticed a particular brief passage at the very end that, in the original hardcover UK version, I found very moving. I checked this morning, and sure enough, those few sentences are missing from the North American version of the book!
It's not anything that changes the overall arc or outcome of the book, or was as glaringly noticeable as the changes made to the very end of the North American version of "Widowland." But I'm really curious as to why those changes were made?!
(WARNING: This review contains some mild spoilers related to the outcome of the first book in this series, "Widowland.")
"Queen High" by C.J. Carey is the sequel to "Widowland," which I read (and loved) at this time last year. It was released on Oct. 13th in the U.K. (in hardcover), but it won't be available in North America until next July (2023)(and under a different title too -- "The Last Queen"). (Personally, having now read the book, I think "Queen High" is a much better title -- but, not my decision...!) It will be interesting to see whether the North American version has any significant text changes, when it's published next summer. ("Widowland" did! -- and most of the material in the epilogue that was tacked onto the North American edition does show up in "Queen High.") I decided I didn't want to wait nine months -- so I splurged and ordered a copy from Amazon UK, and began reading as soon as I had finished my last book.
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.)
"Widowland" ended with the assassination of "the Leader" (i.e., Hitler) -- referred to as "the Event" -- and a bit of a cliffhanger as to the fate of our highly ranked heroine, Rose Ransom, who played a key role in his death. As "Queen High" opens, we learn that (somewhat improbably), Rose survived and returned to her job in the Ministry of Culture. (Of course, there wouldn't be a sequel if she hadn't, right?)
It's two years later (1955), and Rose is now a Poet Hunter -- poetry being a particularly degenerate art form that has now been completely banned. Additionally, she's been tasked with a special assignment: to go to Buckingham Palace and interview Queen Wallis, the American-born widow of the late King Edward VIII, and prepare a briefing document prior to the upcoming visit of President and Mrs. Eisenhower of the United States -- the first such visit since the Alliance was formed, which will culminate in the signing of a new treaty between the two nations. Overshadowing the upcoming visit: the recent murder of a high-ranking SS officer.
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.
As I observed with "Widowland," there have been other dystopian novels based on the premise of the Nazis winning WWII, and others focusing on controlling women and fertility. And I noticed that certain elements of the plot, plot structure & pacing of both "Widowland" and this book were very similar.
Nevertheless -- Carey does an amazing job of combining dystopian elements together with feminism, patriotism, and the subversive power of literature. (I loved how Rose procrastinates at her job, knowing that once she's "corrected" a book, the one remaining original copy will be destroyed. She's saving her favourite, Jane Austen's "Persuasion," for last. She sneaks peeks at a copy of "Jane Eyre" that's hidden in the carved-out pages of a Victorian book on birds at the library.)
It's a pretty heady mixture that deserves an audience in these increasingly authoritarian times. There's a lot here that will sound ominously familiar and relevant. I particularly found "Queen High" interesting in its depiction of an authoritarian society after the omnipresent Leader is gone, and how the world he's created carries on and evolves without him (and, in some ways, gets worse...). Also what it has to say about history and cultural memory (and forgetting)... who gets to tell our stories, and how... writers versus "Content Providers" (!)... oh, so much...!
I was debating, as I read through the book, whether or not I could give this book 5 stars. Then I got to the last few pages, which had me reaching for kleenex, for multiple reasons. Let's just say it's a very timely book that meant a lot to me personally, in many ways.
5 wholehearted stars on Goodreads.
I think that -- properly done -- "Widowland" and "Queen High" would make a great TV series, a la "The Handmaid's Tale." :)
*** *** ***
(Re-read, April 2024)
(WARNING: This review contains some mild spoilers related to the outcome of the first book in this series, "Widowland," as well as this one.)
"Queen High" by C.J. Carey (which goes by the title "Queen Wallis" in North America) picks up two years after the events of "Widowland." (See my review of that book for a description of the overall premise of both books. In a nutshell, the books are dystopian/alternative histories in which Germany conquered Britain in World War II.) It's 1955, the Leader (i.e., Hitler -- although he is never named) is dead and so is King Edward VIII. (Rather improbably), our heroine, Rose Ransom, is back at her job in the Ministry of Culture, "correcting" classic works of British literature to conform to the new regime's worldview. By some miracle, her role in the Leader's assassination (obliquely referred to as "the Event") has not been discovered.
Now Rose has added the title of Poet Hunter to her job description -- poetry being a particularly degenerate, subversive art form that has now been banned. She starts attending underground meetings where poetry is recited, circulated and discussed, invoking suppressed memories of her late father and the poetry he used to read to her. And she's been tasked with another special assignment: to go to Buckingham Palace and interview Queen Wallis, the American-born widow of the late King, prior to the upcoming visit of President and Mrs. Eisenhower of the United States. The recent murder of a high-ranking SS officer has the authorities on edge, desperate to solve the crime before the President arrives.
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 find out more about what has happened to many of the characters we first met in "Widowland" -- including the Friedas (childless widows over the age of 50, ranked lowest on the social classification ladder), Rose's friend Helena (who became pregnant by an SS officer in "Widowland") and Rose's former co-worker and lover, Oliver, who disappeared in the aftermath of "the Event."
The ending still packs an emotional punch (albeit not as great as it did the first time I read the book, shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II)(let that be a hint/mild spoiler, lol).
As I've observed previously, there are other dystopian novels with similar premises. Nevertheless, Carey does an amazing job of combining dystopian elements with feminism, patriotism, and the subversive power of literature. There's a lot here that will sound ominously familiar and highly relevant. I would love to see these novels being read more widely!
4.5 stars this time around, but rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads (my original rating).
Text note: As I mentioned in my earlier review, I noticed some differences between the original U.K. hardcover version of "Widowland" (published by Quercus) and the North American edition (published in paperback and digital formats by Sourcebooks) -- most notably at the very end. I first noticed this when the North American paperback version came out (I already had the original hardcover edition from the U.K.).
I wasn't consciously looking for differences between the U.K. & North American versions of "Queen High/Queen Wallis" as I re-read it (I originally read the UK hardcover, but chose the digital North American version, this time around) -- but last night, after I finished the book & turned out the lights and lay in bed, it struck me that I hadn't noticed a particular brief passage at the very end that, in the original hardcover UK version, I found very moving. I checked this morning, and sure enough, those few sentences are missing from the North American version of the book!
It's not anything that changes the overall arc or outcome of the book, or was as glaringly noticeable as the changes made to the very end of the North American version of "Widowland." But I'm really curious as to why those changes were made?!
March 16, 2024
I didn’t love this book quite as much as I did Widowland. The first one felt much more immediate and urgent, with fast-paced action and a plot that just kept the pages flying under my fingers. While it was interesting to revisit Carey’s alternative history world where the Nazis have annexed Britain, this book felt a lot more hesitant. The build-up to the visit of the American President didn’t have the same immediacy as the plot to harm The Leader in the first book.
In this sequel, the Event, as it’s called, has pushed women far further into the caste system. Ever more rules are imposed upon women, and Rose continues her job of sanitizing literature of all of its “degenerate” messages. I did enjoy that Carey added quite a bit of material from Jane Austen, as it’s clear to me that patriarchal men would miss a lot of Austen’s feminist messaging. However, there are quite a few situations in this novel that are resolved a little too neatly. It’s interesting that Rose is asked to visit Queen Wallis, among all of the women at the Culture Ministry. She also never turns in her notes on the Queen, which you would think would have made her even more of a target. I also find it hard to believe that .
One thing that I noticed off the bat and then verified in case I was wrong was that President Eisenhower and Mamie boarded an ocean liner to travel to the Alliance, and then at the end the presidential plane was seen leaving London. I understand what Carey was implying with the abrupt departure of the plane, but how did it even get into the Alliance if the President was on an ocean liner?
At any rate, it’s clear that there is at least one more novel in this series, and I will wait patiently for its release. I also prefer the alternate title of Queen High, as it describes the events of the book much better than Queen Wallis.
I became curious about the original Geli, Hitler’s beloved niece, and the fact that she was a real person, and one that died under mysterious circumstances, is fascinating and unsettling.
In this sequel, the Event, as it’s called, has pushed women far further into the caste system. Ever more rules are imposed upon women, and Rose continues her job of sanitizing literature of all of its “degenerate” messages. I did enjoy that Carey added quite a bit of material from Jane Austen, as it’s clear to me that patriarchal men would miss a lot of Austen’s feminist messaging. However, there are quite a few situations in this novel that are resolved a little too neatly. It’s interesting that Rose is asked to visit Queen Wallis, among all of the women at the Culture Ministry. She also never turns in her notes on the Queen, which you would think would have made her even more of a target. I also find it hard to believe that .
One thing that I noticed off the bat and then verified in case I was wrong was that President Eisenhower and Mamie boarded an ocean liner to travel to the Alliance, and then at the end the presidential plane was seen leaving London. I understand what Carey was implying with the abrupt departure of the plane, but how did it even get into the Alliance if the President was on an ocean liner?
At any rate, it’s clear that there is at least one more novel in this series, and I will wait patiently for its release. I also prefer the alternate title of Queen High, as it describes the events of the book much better than Queen Wallis.
I became curious about the original Geli, Hitler’s beloved niece, and the fact that she was a real person, and one that died under mysterious circumstances, is fascinating and unsettling.
November 26, 2023
Queen High by C.J Carey is the anticipated follow up to #Widowland.
While the writing is, once again, well done, the overall story feels uncertain, timid and lost. I didn't feel the same level of intrigue andin some parts the repititon slowed everything down.
There were moments where it really seemed like something extraordinary was about to happen but it fizzled out in favor of another London fact that wasn't necessary.
I would recommend this to readers who have read Widowland but with the caveat of it not bringing anything new or exciting to the dystopian genre.
While the writing is, once again, well done, the overall story feels uncertain, timid and lost. I didn't feel the same level of intrigue andin some parts the repititon slowed everything down.
There were moments where it really seemed like something extraordinary was about to happen but it fizzled out in favor of another London fact that wasn't necessary.
I would recommend this to readers who have read Widowland but with the caveat of it not bringing anything new or exciting to the dystopian genre.
October 13, 2022
“Anyhow, long story short, I won that game. We all had bad hands, but I had the best of them, a Queen High. Know what that is?… A Queen High is one solitary queen in a lousy hand. A lonely queen all on her own. Some people call that hand a Nothing. Or a No Pair. Seems kind of appropriate now.” Queen Wallis to Rose Ransom.
My thanks to Quercus Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Queen High’ by C J Carey. I was also invited to take part in its publication day blog tour.
This is the sequel to ‘Widowland’, which was one of my top reads in 2021. As a result just some general details about the plot in order to avoid spoilers for those yet to read the first book.
It is now 1955 and two years have passed since the shocking events at the conclusion of ‘Widowland’. Life goes on for Rose Ransom under the strict caste system imposed upon women by the Protectorate.
Rose continues her work at the Ministry of Culture rewriting literature to correct the views of the past. Her remit has expanded to include poetry. All poetry has been banned as it is considered capable of transmitting subversive meanings, emotions and signals that cannot be controlled.
There is an underground movement of gatherings where people read poetry. As part of her covert work Rose is sent to infiltrate meetings and gather information. While reluctant she really has no choice but to become a Poet Hunter.
In addition, the American President and his wife are about to make an important official visit and the Protectorate wants to impress them and assuage any concerns there might be about the treatment of women in the Alliance. As a result Rose is sent to meet with the widowed Queen Wallis to ascertain her state of mind before the presidential visit. Rose quickly finds herself once more caught up in monumental events.
I admire Carey’s ability to tell a riveting tale of a dystopian society. I had lavished ‘Widowland’ with praise for its powerful storyline, the attention to detailing the everyday lives in the 1950s Anglo-Saxon Alliance, and its celebration of the power of literature.
In ‘Queen High’ these qualities continue creating an intelligent and thought provoking novel that is also very exciting. I found it engaging and certainly a worthy sequel to ‘Widowland’.
Very highly recommended.
My thanks to Quercus Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Queen High’ by C J Carey. I was also invited to take part in its publication day blog tour.
This is the sequel to ‘Widowland’, which was one of my top reads in 2021. As a result just some general details about the plot in order to avoid spoilers for those yet to read the first book.
It is now 1955 and two years have passed since the shocking events at the conclusion of ‘Widowland’. Life goes on for Rose Ransom under the strict caste system imposed upon women by the Protectorate.
Rose continues her work at the Ministry of Culture rewriting literature to correct the views of the past. Her remit has expanded to include poetry. All poetry has been banned as it is considered capable of transmitting subversive meanings, emotions and signals that cannot be controlled.
There is an underground movement of gatherings where people read poetry. As part of her covert work Rose is sent to infiltrate meetings and gather information. While reluctant she really has no choice but to become a Poet Hunter.
In addition, the American President and his wife are about to make an important official visit and the Protectorate wants to impress them and assuage any concerns there might be about the treatment of women in the Alliance. As a result Rose is sent to meet with the widowed Queen Wallis to ascertain her state of mind before the presidential visit. Rose quickly finds herself once more caught up in monumental events.
I admire Carey’s ability to tell a riveting tale of a dystopian society. I had lavished ‘Widowland’ with praise for its powerful storyline, the attention to detailing the everyday lives in the 1950s Anglo-Saxon Alliance, and its celebration of the power of literature.
In ‘Queen High’ these qualities continue creating an intelligent and thought provoking novel that is also very exciting. I found it engaging and certainly a worthy sequel to ‘Widowland’.
Very highly recommended.
March 30, 2023
Had the hardest time staying involved with this.
September 24, 2023
Widowland was one of my favorite reads this year, and having received a copy of Queen Wallis from the publishers, I couldn't wait to dive into the next installment of the Rose Ransom series. But truthfully, I did finish the sequel feeling a little more conflicted with my final thoughts and review.
On one hand, I loved being back in this world. Carey does an excellent job with world-building, and creating an authentic dystopian society that feels beat-up, grungy, and oppressed. The book begins two years after Widowland ends, and with the assassination of “the great leader,” we find Britain under even stricter restrictions. The ruling party is continuing with its quest to rewrite history and “sanitize” collective memory, and the caste rules for women have been tightened further. There’s a thought-provoking depth to the story as the themes and message address issues that aren’t simply confined to this alternate-historical novel.
However, in Queen Wallis, the plot and characters came across as very repetitive to the first novel. (A note on history repeating itself, perhaps?) Rose is a much weaker and less compelling character in this book. While this was clearly a specific choice the author made for the plot, it felt as if all the character work in Widowland had been undone. Given that I had just read the first book a month ago, it felt too similar.
While the events of the first book end on a cliffhanger, they aren’t addressed in Queen Wallis until much later on. This created a bit of confusion for me as a reader. Again, it was clearly an intentional and key part of the plot, and I understand the why behind it -- I just didn't think it worked for me.
That being said, I read this book in two days and had a difficult time putting it down. I needed to know what was going on, and in that way, that lingering suspense and confusion proved successful. (Like I said… I’m conflicted on this one!)
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.)
In conclusion… Yes, there are certain historical points that didn’t quite work for me. No, I didn’t find Rose a compelling character in this story. But yes, I still really enjoyed this world. The ending of Queen Wallis leads me to believe that there is a book three in the works, and despite my hesitations about this sequel, you can absolutely believe that I will be first in line to see how this all concludes.
Thanks to the publisher for my gifted copy! 3.5 stars.
On one hand, I loved being back in this world. Carey does an excellent job with world-building, and creating an authentic dystopian society that feels beat-up, grungy, and oppressed. The book begins two years after Widowland ends, and with the assassination of “the great leader,” we find Britain under even stricter restrictions. The ruling party is continuing with its quest to rewrite history and “sanitize” collective memory, and the caste rules for women have been tightened further. There’s a thought-provoking depth to the story as the themes and message address issues that aren’t simply confined to this alternate-historical novel.
However, in Queen Wallis, the plot and characters came across as very repetitive to the first novel. (A note on history repeating itself, perhaps?) Rose is a much weaker and less compelling character in this book. While this was clearly a specific choice the author made for the plot, it felt as if all the character work in Widowland had been undone. Given that I had just read the first book a month ago, it felt too similar.
While the events of the first book end on a cliffhanger, they aren’t addressed in Queen Wallis until much later on. This created a bit of confusion for me as a reader. Again, it was clearly an intentional and key part of the plot, and I understand the why behind it -- I just didn't think it worked for me.
That being said, I read this book in two days and had a difficult time putting it down. I needed to know what was going on, and in that way, that lingering suspense and confusion proved successful. (Like I said… I’m conflicted on this one!)
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.)
In conclusion… Yes, there are certain historical points that didn’t quite work for me. No, I didn’t find Rose a compelling character in this story. But yes, I still really enjoyed this world. The ending of Queen Wallis leads me to believe that there is a book three in the works, and despite my hesitations about this sequel, you can absolutely believe that I will be first in line to see how this all concludes.
Thanks to the publisher for my gifted copy! 3.5 stars.
July 18, 2023
Queen Wallis by C. J. Carey is a refreshing surprise! Set in London in 1955 the story is the sequel to Widowland which I have yet to read. Very few dystopian novels appeal to me but this is compelling, beguiling and utterly engrossing and would be a shame to miss.
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.
If you seek originality and disturbingly believable dystopia set in the fascinating 1950s, this has your name on it.
My sincere thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this fabulous novel.
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.
If you seek originality and disturbingly believable dystopia set in the fascinating 1950s, this has your name on it.
My sincere thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this fabulous novel.
May 23, 2024
A second read for a book club.
I enjoyed it as much, if not more, the second time round, especially as I couldn't quite remember what happened. I read it immediately after Widowland so it was good to get that continuity of characters and events. It did strike me as odd though, that given the toughness of the regime they live under, Rose wasn't punished for her actions in Widowland in the way that so many other innocent or peripheral people were. I could see that she knew something was up, and that they were trying to use her to get to Oliver, but even so, it just didn't sit right, and then that she would be the one selected to do the poetry hunting AND "assess" the Queen... I loved her as a character though, and we will be reading Persuasion, her favourite Jane Austen that she was saving until last, later in the year in this book club.
I enjoyed it as much, if not more, the second time round, especially as I couldn't quite remember what happened. I read it immediately after Widowland so it was good to get that continuity of characters and events. It did strike me as odd though, that given the toughness of the regime they live under, Rose wasn't punished for her actions in Widowland in the way that so many other innocent or peripheral people were. I could see that she knew something was up, and that they were trying to use her to get to Oliver, but even so, it just didn't sit right, and then that she would be the one selected to do the poetry hunting AND "assess" the Queen... I loved her as a character though, and we will be reading Persuasion, her favourite Jane Austen that she was saving until last, later in the year in this book club.
August 24, 2023
Rose is editing classic poetry now in this sequel to the book editing position she had in Widowland. This was not as engaging; Rose is limp and Queen Wallis is not really that central to this story line. But it's an interesting read, and scary thinking about how easily this type of editing could be done today.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a digital review copy. Publish date July 18, 2023.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a digital review copy. Publish date July 18, 2023.
November 1, 2023
A great followup to Widowlands.
December 24, 2022
I found this very repetitive, especially the details about the cast system for women and what they can and cannot do living on this dreary island. It was too long and most of the action was confined to the last 20% of the book. It plodded along for the rest and, IMO, possessed the same problem as the first, thinly drawn characters with very little depth. Rose is so drippy and weak it’s difficult to feel anything at all for her. It’s a pity, Jane Thynne is better writer than this.
October 29, 2022
Well, this was a lot more like hard work than the opener of the series, Widowland, was. In showing the drudgery and oppression of a rarefied society, it's just repetitive in the extreme about the drudgery – forever reminding us what some women can and can't do, and what is not allowed for any of them. Not only that, the book is too similar to its prequel – after a hundred pages of what seems like wonderful world-building (and is, to some extent) but is merely one huge info-dump, we see our lead forced to enter the world she didn't expect to. Previously it was to enter the world of the Widowlands to see what clues could be had to the death of Hitler. Here she's thrown into the underworld of "Fahrenheit 451"-styled poetry circles, and, just in time for a presidential visit from America, into the circle of Queen Wallis.
Yes, this is still deeply entrenched in the rich world of alternative fiction, where the UK was more or less made an annex of by Nazi Germany. Germania has replaced Berlin as Hitler's dream capital, but two years ago, in the first book, he was finally killed off. So why oh why oh why, when we have so many people who could have been impacted by an extended Nazi world, do we have extended scenes where we're supposed to have sympathy for King Edward's widow, when all she does is come across like an alcoholic Mucky Meg"h"an Muckle whingeing about what had been taken from her, and talking of The Firm not understanding her?
More commonality with the first book is the complete lack of oomph about Rose, our heroine. We soon see the reason why her love of crosswords is crowbarred in most ridiculous fashion into a conversation, but what does she do about it? Does she solve any, like a naturally curious woman would; does she clamour for back-issues of the newspaper the key ones are in (seeing as her boyf is its editor, fer cryin' out loud)? No – in the entirety of the first half here she looks at some people and wonders if any of them look like the crossword setter. It's no wonder too little happens far too slowly here with that kind of dynamic, agency-filled lead. She still seems unable to research anything for the people demanding it of her, and she bloody well still seems unable to research anything for herself.
Rose's naffness really stops this being a decent feminist work, in my mind, and the alternative history and dystopian society elements have all been done before, and better. Heck, they were done better last time round in this series, let alone from any other author. And so much of the pleasure from previously is gone from these pages, when we see the same person go through the same steps and (lack of) process all over again.
One final issue really rankled with me. OK, it's deliberately set in a world where nobody says the name of Hitler, and the Nazi Party term is shouted down instantly, but this should be more about who they were and what they did, and less about breeding pressures on women and so on. In never once mentioning the real victims of the Nazi ideology, this actually feels quite disrespectful. I'd rather I were forced to empathise with some of the six million, and not the Windsors. But beyond even that is the fact the limp milksop of a lead is just not fun to be reading about any more.
And beyond even THAT is the fact I can review a book like this, and not mention once that it starts with a murder to be solved - a murder so seldom on these pages that when it does crop up you feel a right jab of surprise. This really is the least thriller-y thriller I can remember.
Yes, this is still deeply entrenched in the rich world of alternative fiction, where the UK was more or less made an annex of by Nazi Germany. Germania has replaced Berlin as Hitler's dream capital, but two years ago, in the first book, he was finally killed off. So why oh why oh why, when we have so many people who could have been impacted by an extended Nazi world, do we have extended scenes where we're supposed to have sympathy for King Edward's widow, when all she does is come across like an alcoholic Mucky Meg"h"an Muckle whingeing about what had been taken from her, and talking of The Firm not understanding her?
More commonality with the first book is the complete lack of oomph about Rose, our heroine. We soon see the reason why her love of crosswords is crowbarred in most ridiculous fashion into a conversation, but what does she do about it? Does she solve any, like a naturally curious woman would; does she clamour for back-issues of the newspaper the key ones are in (seeing as her boyf is its editor, fer cryin' out loud)? No – in the entirety of the first half here she looks at some people and wonders if any of them look like the crossword setter. It's no wonder too little happens far too slowly here with that kind of dynamic, agency-filled lead. She still seems unable to research anything for the people demanding it of her, and she bloody well still seems unable to research anything for herself.
Rose's naffness really stops this being a decent feminist work, in my mind, and the alternative history and dystopian society elements have all been done before, and better. Heck, they were done better last time round in this series, let alone from any other author. And so much of the pleasure from previously is gone from these pages, when we see the same person go through the same steps and (lack of) process all over again.
One final issue really rankled with me. OK, it's deliberately set in a world where nobody says the name of Hitler, and the Nazi Party term is shouted down instantly, but this should be more about who they were and what they did, and less about breeding pressures on women and so on. In never once mentioning the real victims of the Nazi ideology, this actually feels quite disrespectful. I'd rather I were forced to empathise with some of the six million, and not the Windsors. But beyond even that is the fact the limp milksop of a lead is just not fun to be reading about any more.
And beyond even THAT is the fact I can review a book like this, and not mention once that it starts with a murder to be solved - a murder so seldom on these pages that when it does crop up you feel a right jab of surprise. This really is the least thriller-y thriller I can remember.
August 3, 2023
This is the second in the Rose Ransom alternative history series. The lead character is well-named, since she is an English rose, held in a sort of ransom by the powers that be in England’s Alliance with Germany. The Alliance was formed in 1940, but it’s more like a German takeover than a true alliance. It’s a German protectorate and there are Germans in charge all over. The expectation is to speak German. The company is impoverished, with strict rationing and ersatz everything. Apparently all of the good food and products go to Germany. Edward VII was enthroned since he was always a Nazi sympathizer, but he is now dead and his wife, Queen Wallis, is on the throne but essentially a German captive. Edward VII’s brother George and family managed to escape England and are said to be safe in Canada. With George now also dead, Elizabeth is considered the rightful monarch by the English resistance.
There is even a caste system for women, with each level having a nickname, from Geli for 1A down to Frieda for widows and childless over-35s. The Friedas are consigned to “Widowlands” where they are provided poor accommodations and low-calorie rations. English history and literature are being actively erased and/or twisted to suit the German preferences. Rose works at the Culture Ministry, where her job is to rewrite literature and, now, poetry. Women must not be strong characters, love should be targeted to their leaders and not to romantic partners or country (the old England, that is). Like everyone else, especially women, Rose is regularly given treatments intended to deaden memories. But they can’t quite obliterate her memory of what happened in Oxford two years earlier, when “The Leader” was assassinated. (While you could read this book as a standalone, it is much better to start with the first book in the series, Widowland.)
The Alliance is abuzz with the news that President Eisenhower and his wife will come for the first official state visit by the US since before 1940. The plan is for the US to sign a pact with the Alliance. Rose is given the task of meeting with Queen Wallis to ensure that she is prepared for her meeting with Eisenhower. Rose finds that Wallis has a few secrets and some personal ambitions up her sleeve that may entangle Rose in dangerous plots.
I really enjoy this series, despite the unlikelihood of Rose always being placed at the center of the action. Carey builds a believably dystopian world, one in which few people have a problem with the caste system for women—not even many women, other than those in Widowlands. Those Friedas well remember the time before, and are determined not to give in to the new order.
There is even a caste system for women, with each level having a nickname, from Geli for 1A down to Frieda for widows and childless over-35s. The Friedas are consigned to “Widowlands” where they are provided poor accommodations and low-calorie rations. English history and literature are being actively erased and/or twisted to suit the German preferences. Rose works at the Culture Ministry, where her job is to rewrite literature and, now, poetry. Women must not be strong characters, love should be targeted to their leaders and not to romantic partners or country (the old England, that is). Like everyone else, especially women, Rose is regularly given treatments intended to deaden memories. But they can’t quite obliterate her memory of what happened in Oxford two years earlier, when “The Leader” was assassinated. (While you could read this book as a standalone, it is much better to start with the first book in the series, Widowland.)
The Alliance is abuzz with the news that President Eisenhower and his wife will come for the first official state visit by the US since before 1940. The plan is for the US to sign a pact with the Alliance. Rose is given the task of meeting with Queen Wallis to ensure that she is prepared for her meeting with Eisenhower. Rose finds that Wallis has a few secrets and some personal ambitions up her sleeve that may entangle Rose in dangerous plots.
I really enjoy this series, despite the unlikelihood of Rose always being placed at the center of the action. Carey builds a believably dystopian world, one in which few people have a problem with the caste system for women—not even many women, other than those in Widowlands. Those Friedas well remember the time before, and are determined not to give in to the new order.
July 17, 2023
All of you will be reinforcing the feminine virtues the Alliance cherishes: subservience, obedience, submission to male authority, purity.
Queen Wallace is the second (and this time really the final) novel about Rose Ransom, British subject living in the Anglo-Saxon Alliance, a waking nightmare of a German-occupied Britain after Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler goes through.
This book is not just dark and dystopian, but also feels like a state-sponsored version of what social media and lax data privacy laws have created in our reality. Everyone is informing on others, the authorities have a ridiculous amount of info on each and every citizen, and no one tells jokes for fear of disappearing or being “bleached” by Nazi psychologists, brainwashed into forgetting the past.
Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number— Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you—
Ye are many—they are few.
After an assassination referred to as “The Event,” and the death of King Edward, the final vestige of the royal family is Queen Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor in our world. Wallis is American and in the world of this novel, she has no f**ks left to give. Our heroine Rose, focused on “sanitizing” poetry (this is so 1984 in my head, but even more disgusting), is given an assignment to infiltrate poetry readings and then report all the people attending and use her knowledge of the topic to help the Nazis understand what the poetry means. Then, she’s asked to assess Queen Wallis because President Eisenhower and his wife are taking a trip to England and want to see their country(wo)man.
Like the first book, it took some time for me to get back into this world again, and I even checked out the first novel from the library, convinced I should know Douglas, Rose’s boyfriend in this book. That’s not to say that the book is unintelligible if you haven’t read the first novel very recently, but I wouldn’t say this is a standalone either.
The final fifty pages of the book were terrific and full of action. My major quibble is with the title. I understand why they picked this particular name but I’m not sure your average reader knows that Wallis and her throne-abdicating husband visited Nazis and were potentially key players in a supposed Nazi plot to kill the royal family and install Edward and Wallis back in Windsor Castle.
I wished for a second book after finishing the first, and got my wish. So I am now wishing for a third book in the hopes the universe will manifest it.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Queen Wallace is the second (and this time really the final) novel about Rose Ransom, British subject living in the Anglo-Saxon Alliance, a waking nightmare of a German-occupied Britain after Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler goes through.
This book is not just dark and dystopian, but also feels like a state-sponsored version of what social media and lax data privacy laws have created in our reality. Everyone is informing on others, the authorities have a ridiculous amount of info on each and every citizen, and no one tells jokes for fear of disappearing or being “bleached” by Nazi psychologists, brainwashed into forgetting the past.
Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number— Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you—
Ye are many—they are few.
After an assassination referred to as “The Event,” and the death of King Edward, the final vestige of the royal family is Queen Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor in our world. Wallis is American and in the world of this novel, she has no f**ks left to give. Our heroine Rose, focused on “sanitizing” poetry (this is so 1984 in my head, but even more disgusting), is given an assignment to infiltrate poetry readings and then report all the people attending and use her knowledge of the topic to help the Nazis understand what the poetry means. Then, she’s asked to assess Queen Wallis because President Eisenhower and his wife are taking a trip to England and want to see their country(wo)man.
Like the first book, it took some time for me to get back into this world again, and I even checked out the first novel from the library, convinced I should know Douglas, Rose’s boyfriend in this book. That’s not to say that the book is unintelligible if you haven’t read the first novel very recently, but I wouldn’t say this is a standalone either.
The final fifty pages of the book were terrific and full of action. My major quibble is with the title. I understand why they picked this particular name but I’m not sure your average reader knows that Wallis and her throne-abdicating husband visited Nazis and were potentially key players in a supposed Nazi plot to kill the royal family and install Edward and Wallis back in Windsor Castle.
I wished for a second book after finishing the first, and got my wish. So I am now wishing for a third book in the hopes the universe will manifest it.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 7, 2023
I just finished Queen Wallis by CJ Carey and here are my thoughts.
Two years after the leader was killed on British soil but the rebellion, the violence and retribution gets worse. The suppression of women escalates to even dizzier heights.
Somehow Rose still has her job which now includes rewriting poetry so they cannot be used to send messages. Rose has been sent to infiltrate the poetry reading and on top of that, to keep an eye on the widowed queen. Queen Wallis is living in a state of paranoia and wants to leave Britain but she has secrets, secrets that could bring the alliance to its knees.
I was so nervous that after reading widowland, that this book wouldn’t be able to bring the magic it sowed in book one… I was glad my fears were not warranted. The book picks up 2 years later and it really sets the stage for how much worse things got but the people never gave up hope.
Rose has been separated from Oliver. After the leader died, he had to flee. Rose spends her time missing him terribly. Little heartbreaking. Rose spends her time knowing she is on the wrong side but unable to know how to approach making a difference.
I really love the idea of a reimagined world where history is offered up with a different timeline. I need more books like this now.
I did feel like I was missing a bit of information but honestly, I couldn’t tell you what it was the book didn’t answer. Might be the leap in time or just my silly brain. I loved the plot and how Rose’s job had changed slightly. I also really enjoyed the fact that Rose, although she wasn’t an outright rebel, she was rebelling in her own way. She knew she had to get married and have a lot of kids but she didn’t cave. She knew she would lose her status but she was defiant and I love that in a protagonist.
My hopes for the next book are that Rose becomes part of the freedom fighters and stops hiding behind her position. I want more from her.
4.5 stars. I’m super excited to see what comes next!! Anyone who loves dystopian books, needs to get both books in the widowland saga!
Thank you Thanks to @sourcebooks and @janethynne_cjcarey for my gifted copy!
#cjcarey #widowland #dystopian #feminism #alternatehistory #reimagined #sciencefiction #booklovingcanadian #unitedbookstagram #libraryofbookstagram #bookstagramph #bookstagramit #bookstagramcommunity #instabookstagram #bookstagramchallenge #bookreview #bookinfluencer #sourcebooks #booksarethebest
Two years after the leader was killed on British soil but the rebellion, the violence and retribution gets worse. The suppression of women escalates to even dizzier heights.
Somehow Rose still has her job which now includes rewriting poetry so they cannot be used to send messages. Rose has been sent to infiltrate the poetry reading and on top of that, to keep an eye on the widowed queen. Queen Wallis is living in a state of paranoia and wants to leave Britain but she has secrets, secrets that could bring the alliance to its knees.
I was so nervous that after reading widowland, that this book wouldn’t be able to bring the magic it sowed in book one… I was glad my fears were not warranted. The book picks up 2 years later and it really sets the stage for how much worse things got but the people never gave up hope.
Rose has been separated from Oliver. After the leader died, he had to flee. Rose spends her time missing him terribly. Little heartbreaking. Rose spends her time knowing she is on the wrong side but unable to know how to approach making a difference.
I really love the idea of a reimagined world where history is offered up with a different timeline. I need more books like this now.
I did feel like I was missing a bit of information but honestly, I couldn’t tell you what it was the book didn’t answer. Might be the leap in time or just my silly brain. I loved the plot and how Rose’s job had changed slightly. I also really enjoyed the fact that Rose, although she wasn’t an outright rebel, she was rebelling in her own way. She knew she had to get married and have a lot of kids but she didn’t cave. She knew she would lose her status but she was defiant and I love that in a protagonist.
My hopes for the next book are that Rose becomes part of the freedom fighters and stops hiding behind her position. I want more from her.
4.5 stars. I’m super excited to see what comes next!! Anyone who loves dystopian books, needs to get both books in the widowland saga!
Thank you Thanks to @sourcebooks and @janethynne_cjcarey for my gifted copy!
#cjcarey #widowland #dystopian #feminism #alternatehistory #reimagined #sciencefiction #booklovingcanadian #unitedbookstagram #libraryofbookstagram #bookstagramph #bookstagramit #bookstagramcommunity #instabookstagram #bookstagramchallenge #bookreview #bookinfluencer #sourcebooks #booksarethebest
April 25, 2025
Queen Wallis is the follow-up to Widowland.
These books are a terrifying portrayal of what life would have been like if Britain formed an alliance with Germany rather than going to war.
It has been two years since the event that caused the death of the "Leader". Rose Ransom was responsible for his death. Even though she's detained as a suspect, she's let go to resume her work at the Culture Ministry, sanitizing works of fiction to make the appropriate for citizens of the alliance.
In the new alliance, the royal family has disappeared, and King Edward and Wallis Simpson, who were friendly to Germany, have been installed in Buckingham Palace. Rose has been given the job of meeting with Queen Wallis in advance of the upcoming visit by American president Eisenhower. The first visit since the beginning of the alliance. But, things are not at all what they seem for Rose. As Germany is preparing for a visit from the US president, with the understanding of a signing of a pact, there are resistance forces making other plans. People who remember what Britain used to be like before the Alliance and who no longer want to be a subjugated class.
Widowland and Queen Wallis focus mostly on women and the treatment of women in the alliance. The class system that was put in place, the severe restrictions for all women. But also tackles what happens when people live under such an oppressive regime and the extent the regime will go to, in order to quell any free thinking or dissent.
These books don't really address the treatment by Germany of Jewish people, people from different races, and those with disabilities. They were really focused on the subjugation of women under the alliance and the crucial role literature plays in a society. This bothered me at first, but the authour addressed this by having King Edward, as part of the alliance pact, add in protections from death camps for all British citizens. That didn't mean life was grand. The women would definitely have been assigned to the lowest classes.
Overall, these books were so thought-provoking. The literature aspect to them really highlights the importance of literature in a society and the importance of fighting against book banning.
These books are a terrifying portrayal of what life would have been like if Britain formed an alliance with Germany rather than going to war.
It has been two years since the event that caused the death of the "Leader". Rose Ransom was responsible for his death. Even though she's detained as a suspect, she's let go to resume her work at the Culture Ministry, sanitizing works of fiction to make the appropriate for citizens of the alliance.
In the new alliance, the royal family has disappeared, and King Edward and Wallis Simpson, who were friendly to Germany, have been installed in Buckingham Palace. Rose has been given the job of meeting with Queen Wallis in advance of the upcoming visit by American president Eisenhower. The first visit since the beginning of the alliance. But, things are not at all what they seem for Rose. As Germany is preparing for a visit from the US president, with the understanding of a signing of a pact, there are resistance forces making other plans. People who remember what Britain used to be like before the Alliance and who no longer want to be a subjugated class.
Widowland and Queen Wallis focus mostly on women and the treatment of women in the alliance. The class system that was put in place, the severe restrictions for all women. But also tackles what happens when people live under such an oppressive regime and the extent the regime will go to, in order to quell any free thinking or dissent.
These books don't really address the treatment by Germany of Jewish people, people from different races, and those with disabilities. They were really focused on the subjugation of women under the alliance and the crucial role literature plays in a society. This bothered me at first, but the authour addressed this by having King Edward, as part of the alliance pact, add in protections from death camps for all British citizens. That didn't mean life was grand. The women would definitely have been assigned to the lowest classes.
Overall, these books were so thought-provoking. The literature aspect to them really highlights the importance of literature in a society and the importance of fighting against book banning.
October 13, 2022
Queen High by C J Carey is a direct sequel to her book Widowland, and if you have not already read that I highly recommend picking it up before reading this, not just because it will give you the background you need to get the most from this book but because it is a cracking good read in its own right.
Set in a dystopian alternative Britain which became a protectorate of Germany during the second world war , where the royal family has been usurped and the widowed Queen Wallis is a titular head of state with no real power, the book tells the story of Rose Ransom , a key figure from Widowland who is keeping a low profile following the events of that book. As a woman in the protectorate her life is highly regulated with her designated social class determining everything from suitable employment to food rations and even clothing and hairstyles. She despises her work in the " Culture " department where she is responsible for editing or rather censoring the great works of English prose and poetry.. The promise of a state visit from US President Eisenhower drives the Alliance into overdrive , determined to root out subversion and resistance, and Rose finds herself drawn into the hunt.
Once again Carey delivers drama and tension in spades as well as wonderful characterisation and some really interesting what if scenarios. This is a fast paced book that I would recommend to fans of dystopian or historical fiction, especially if they like that history with a bit of a twist.. I also appreciated the feminist storytelling and emphasis on women's roles and how attempts to separate and segregate them based on the most ridiculous of criteria is a powerful tool in the wrong hands. I did think this book was a little busy , with a little too much story , it could have been streamlined a little so that it read more smoothly, but that is a very minor criticism of a book I really enjoyed.
The ending left me eager for more, so I am hoping that the author is busy penning book three, I for one cannot wait to pick it up.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
Set in a dystopian alternative Britain which became a protectorate of Germany during the second world war , where the royal family has been usurped and the widowed Queen Wallis is a titular head of state with no real power, the book tells the story of Rose Ransom , a key figure from Widowland who is keeping a low profile following the events of that book. As a woman in the protectorate her life is highly regulated with her designated social class determining everything from suitable employment to food rations and even clothing and hairstyles. She despises her work in the " Culture " department where she is responsible for editing or rather censoring the great works of English prose and poetry.. The promise of a state visit from US President Eisenhower drives the Alliance into overdrive , determined to root out subversion and resistance, and Rose finds herself drawn into the hunt.
Once again Carey delivers drama and tension in spades as well as wonderful characterisation and some really interesting what if scenarios. This is a fast paced book that I would recommend to fans of dystopian or historical fiction, especially if they like that history with a bit of a twist.. I also appreciated the feminist storytelling and emphasis on women's roles and how attempts to separate and segregate them based on the most ridiculous of criteria is a powerful tool in the wrong hands. I did think this book was a little busy , with a little too much story , it could have been streamlined a little so that it read more smoothly, but that is a very minor criticism of a book I really enjoyed.
The ending left me eager for more, so I am hoping that the author is busy penning book three, I for one cannot wait to pick it up.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
July 7, 2023
For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com
I’m constantly scouring for fiction and nonfiction books about the royal family, yet somehow, I missed Widowland, a dystopian novel of alternative history where Germany took over most of Europe and Great Britain instead of WWII. When I saw this sequel being advertised, I quickly requested it from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark and was approved for an eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
It’s the mid-1950s, and the Nazis have taken over most of Europe and Great Britain. Edward VIII passed away about six months ago, and it’s been two years since The Leader was poisoned and killed. Queen Consort Wallis hasn’t been seen in public too much, and there are concerns about her mental well-being. Women in this society are subjugated and put into different castes; the most desirable caste is one made of Nordic beauties who are also breeders. All other women are seen as useless.
Part 1984, part The Handmaid’s Tale, Queen Wallis goes down the road of What Ifs and it’s truly frightening to think of what could have happened had Churchill not been Prime Minister. In Queen Wallis, Rose Ransom, hero of Widowland, is tasked with rewriting poetry because all poetry is deemed subversive because it can contain hidden meanings. This is seen as a very important position, and because Rose is highly regarded, she’s also been asked to interview Queen Wallis to determine her sanity. President Eisenhower and his wife are on their way to England to visit, and the Protectorate is concerned Wallis may say or do something to jeopardize diplomatic relations with the United States.
Make no mistake, this book is called Queen Wallis but the focus of the book is Rose. Wallis and Rose do meet and have a long discussion about 35% into the book, but Edward VIII’s wife is a supporting character in the book. I generally do not read speculative fiction, but given the subject matter, I found this book a compelling follow-up to Widowland. If you’re a fan of dystopian fiction and have an interest in world history, this series might be for you.
I’m constantly scouring for fiction and nonfiction books about the royal family, yet somehow, I missed Widowland, a dystopian novel of alternative history where Germany took over most of Europe and Great Britain instead of WWII. When I saw this sequel being advertised, I quickly requested it from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark and was approved for an eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
It’s the mid-1950s, and the Nazis have taken over most of Europe and Great Britain. Edward VIII passed away about six months ago, and it’s been two years since The Leader was poisoned and killed. Queen Consort Wallis hasn’t been seen in public too much, and there are concerns about her mental well-being. Women in this society are subjugated and put into different castes; the most desirable caste is one made of Nordic beauties who are also breeders. All other women are seen as useless.
Part 1984, part The Handmaid’s Tale, Queen Wallis goes down the road of What Ifs and it’s truly frightening to think of what could have happened had Churchill not been Prime Minister. In Queen Wallis, Rose Ransom, hero of Widowland, is tasked with rewriting poetry because all poetry is deemed subversive because it can contain hidden meanings. This is seen as a very important position, and because Rose is highly regarded, she’s also been asked to interview Queen Wallis to determine her sanity. President Eisenhower and his wife are on their way to England to visit, and the Protectorate is concerned Wallis may say or do something to jeopardize diplomatic relations with the United States.
Make no mistake, this book is called Queen Wallis but the focus of the book is Rose. Wallis and Rose do meet and have a long discussion about 35% into the book, but Edward VIII’s wife is a supporting character in the book. I generally do not read speculative fiction, but given the subject matter, I found this book a compelling follow-up to Widowland. If you’re a fan of dystopian fiction and have an interest in world history, this series might be for you.
October 12, 2022
This is book two and, although there is a sufficient amount of catchup for those who need a gentle reminder, I think you will be best off reading book one - Widowland - first.
So... two years have passed since the assassination of the Leader. The German Leader, since after the war Britain has been ruled by Nazi Germany. Women are still subject to a caste system and Rose is still working in the Culture Ministry where she has now started to focus on poetry which has been banned as it is deemed too likely to be used to send messages. In fact, more than just focusing, she is actually getting involved when she is tasked to infiltrate a group... She's not a fan of this but little does she know that this infiltration will have its positives when she is reunited with old "friends".
She also crosses paths with Wallis Simpson, widowed Queen, who is looking forward to the visit of Eisenhower from her own homeland. She has a secret and wants Rose to help her expose it, in order that she could become free.
This is a very busy book, more so if you haven't read the first, but you have, haven't you, or you wouldn't still be reading this review! Britain is not as we know it, ruled by the Germans and with women very much the lower gender, and subject to a caste system that is so strict. But, as with any ruling faction such as this, any system such as they maintain, there are rebels. Rose is a great rebel. She has already proved that in her first outing and she continues that here. She is a great character, as are the rest of them. We also have another great character who makes a comeback late on in the book. One that I am very excited to see what happens to. One that I am sure will make their mark on things. Spoilers prevent me from saying any more, but yeah... can't wait for book three!
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
So... two years have passed since the assassination of the Leader. The German Leader, since after the war Britain has been ruled by Nazi Germany. Women are still subject to a caste system and Rose is still working in the Culture Ministry where she has now started to focus on poetry which has been banned as it is deemed too likely to be used to send messages. In fact, more than just focusing, she is actually getting involved when she is tasked to infiltrate a group... She's not a fan of this but little does she know that this infiltration will have its positives when she is reunited with old "friends".
She also crosses paths with Wallis Simpson, widowed Queen, who is looking forward to the visit of Eisenhower from her own homeland. She has a secret and wants Rose to help her expose it, in order that she could become free.
This is a very busy book, more so if you haven't read the first, but you have, haven't you, or you wouldn't still be reading this review! Britain is not as we know it, ruled by the Germans and with women very much the lower gender, and subject to a caste system that is so strict. But, as with any ruling faction such as this, any system such as they maintain, there are rebels. Rose is a great rebel. She has already proved that in her first outing and she continues that here. She is a great character, as are the rest of them. We also have another great character who makes a comeback late on in the book. One that I am very excited to see what happens to. One that I am sure will make their mark on things. Spoilers prevent me from saying any more, but yeah... can't wait for book three!
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
July 1, 2023
My thanks to Net Galley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Highbridge, a division of Recorded Books for an advanced copy of this e-book and audiobook.
Queen Wallis is a sequel to Widowland, both dystopian novels that imagine what England would be like had Hitler and the Nazis won the war. Life where you can't trust anyone, where women are put into groups according to their age and child-bearing abilities. where women are told what they are to wear. A cross between The Man in the High Castle, The Handmaid's Tale and maybe a bit of Stepford Wives.
I think I liked this book a little more than Widowland, which I really liked. Rose is the main character with a a job "cleansing" poetry and literature, which means erasing anything the Nazis don't want people to read, that does't agree with their agenda. She has also been through a "bleaching" process to erase all memories from before the war. She is a good little government worker until she happens upon an underground group who reads poetry, dares to laugh and joke, and speak honestly about life as they are currently living (if you can call this living). She begins to remember things, ponder what she hears in Widowland, and question her work.
So much of this book left me wondering how this compares to things we see in today's governments and how we allow government to have so much control over our lives. Many parts of this story left me wanting to discuss it with a fellow reader. It would be great for a buddy read or a book club.
The audio was well done with different characters voicing the different characters in the book.
{NG kindle, NG audio}
Queen Wallis is a sequel to Widowland, both dystopian novels that imagine what England would be like had Hitler and the Nazis won the war. Life where you can't trust anyone, where women are put into groups according to their age and child-bearing abilities. where women are told what they are to wear. A cross between The Man in the High Castle, The Handmaid's Tale and maybe a bit of Stepford Wives.
I think I liked this book a little more than Widowland, which I really liked. Rose is the main character with a a job "cleansing" poetry and literature, which means erasing anything the Nazis don't want people to read, that does't agree with their agenda. She has also been through a "bleaching" process to erase all memories from before the war. She is a good little government worker until she happens upon an underground group who reads poetry, dares to laugh and joke, and speak honestly about life as they are currently living (if you can call this living). She begins to remember things, ponder what she hears in Widowland, and question her work.
So much of this book left me wondering how this compares to things we see in today's governments and how we allow government to have so much control over our lives. Many parts of this story left me wanting to discuss it with a fellow reader. It would be great for a buddy read or a book club.
The audio was well done with different characters voicing the different characters in the book.
{NG kindle, NG audio}
November 4, 2023
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.
Every evening Rose Ransom looks in the mirror and marvels that she's even alive. A mere woman, her role in the Leader's death has been miraculously overlooked. She still works at the Culture Ministry, where her work now focuses on poetry, which has been banned for its subversive meanings, emotions, and signals that cannot be controlled.
A government propaganda drive to promote positive images of women has just been announced ahead of a visit from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first American president to set foot on English soil in two decades. Queen Wallis Simpson will be spearheading the campaign, and Rose has been tasked with visiting her to explain the plan. When Rose arrives at the palace, she finds Wallis in a state of paranoia, desperate to return to America and enjoy the liberty of her homeland following her husband's death. Wallis claims she has a secret document so explosive that it will blow the Protectorate apart. But will the last queen of England pull the trigger on the Alliance?
This is a sequel to Widowland. You have to read the first one to understand what is happening here. The story picks after the events in Widowland. This time Rose is rewriting poetry.
There is a continued focus on how women are treated in this world. The information is interesting but it is repetitive. I found the writing to be lovely at times but the emphasis on detail can be a bit much.
Every evening Rose Ransom looks in the mirror and marvels that she's even alive. A mere woman, her role in the Leader's death has been miraculously overlooked. She still works at the Culture Ministry, where her work now focuses on poetry, which has been banned for its subversive meanings, emotions, and signals that cannot be controlled.
A government propaganda drive to promote positive images of women has just been announced ahead of a visit from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first American president to set foot on English soil in two decades. Queen Wallis Simpson will be spearheading the campaign, and Rose has been tasked with visiting her to explain the plan. When Rose arrives at the palace, she finds Wallis in a state of paranoia, desperate to return to America and enjoy the liberty of her homeland following her husband's death. Wallis claims she has a secret document so explosive that it will blow the Protectorate apart. But will the last queen of England pull the trigger on the Alliance?
This is a sequel to Widowland. You have to read the first one to understand what is happening here. The story picks after the events in Widowland. This time Rose is rewriting poetry.
There is a continued focus on how women are treated in this world. The information is interesting but it is repetitive. I found the writing to be lovely at times but the emphasis on detail can be a bit much.
July 18, 2023
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.
Rose Ransom works for the Ministry of Culture editing poetry and literature so that it conforms to current cultural standards. The Leader was assassinated two years ago on a visit to England and Rose was involved. She lives in fear that her actions will be discovered and she has been careful. Now she has been chosen to interview Queen Wallis and report on her mental stability. A visit by President Eisenhower has been announced and he would like to meet with her. She is making plans of her own for this meeting and enlists Rose’s help. The murder of a German officer has brought enhanced security and places Rose in the sites of Detective Schumacher, who was involved with the investigation of the Leader’s death. Carey’s alternate history is a chilling look at what might have been as well as a murder mystery that ties to the royal family and comes highly recommended. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book for my review.
Rose Ransom works for the Ministry of Culture editing poetry and literature so that it conforms to current cultural standards. The Leader was assassinated two years ago on a visit to England and Rose was involved. She lives in fear that her actions will be discovered and she has been careful. Now she has been chosen to interview Queen Wallis and report on her mental stability. A visit by President Eisenhower has been announced and he would like to meet with her. She is making plans of her own for this meeting and enlists Rose’s help. The murder of a German officer has brought enhanced security and places Rose in the sites of Detective Schumacher, who was involved with the investigation of the Leader’s death. Carey’s alternate history is a chilling look at what might have been as well as a murder mystery that ties to the royal family and comes highly recommended. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book for my review.
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