End of Story

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Five years ago the government banned the writing & disseminating of fiction: physical books are burned, whilst digital copies have been erased, fictional TV shows & films are prohibited, even reading aloud a nonfiction book is considered storytelling. Now in 2035, successful ex-author, Fern Dostoy is now Fern Dalrymple Widowed & childless, she had to move home & change her appearance & now works as a cleaner in a hospital. (Continued)

OutsmartYourShelf She has never heard from her fellow author friends & her only acquaintances are her next door neighbour, & the delivery man from FineFayre who sells her tea & biscuits. Fern lives offline as much as possible as she knows that even something an innocuous as a fridge is used to surveil the population, & she receives regular visits from two men, government officials, who search her home & question her about her activities.
13mo

OutsmartYourShelf Outwardly Fern is quiet & unassuming, inwardly she is slowly rebelling. She has started to write a journal & gets involved with a group called 'Bedtime Stories for the Restless' a secret group who network to read stories over the telephone to children who can't sleep without their story-time. When she is contacted by a young boy named Hunter, against all advice, she finds herself becoming attached to him. 13mo

OutsmartYourShelf The problem is no-one else has heard of Hunter, even though he tells Fern he has rung the storyline before, & he is ringing in on a phoneline that supposedly only calls out. Fern thinks her fellow storytellers are beginning to wonder if she is cracking under the pressure, but she knows Hunter is real, but who is he & is he hiding something?

This starts off as a chilling dystopia, especially to those of us who are booklovers. 13mo

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OutsmartYourShelf It's almost impossible to comprehend a world where fiction is banned completely. As it progresses, it begins to feel more & more surreal, especially her strangely halting friendship with Mr FineFayre - Fern's so awful to him at the start you wonder why he keeps coming back. The premise of it all really captured my imagination. There is a slight dip in pace & intensity in the middle where it seems a little repetitive at times, 13mo

OutsmartYourShelf but if the reader sticks with it, the payoff is worth it. Well I thought so anyway, I may just be hormonal but I'm sure I had a tear or two in my eyes as I read the final pages. I can't give it full marks due to the slow middle section, but I rate this 4.5🌟 I'd definitely read more from the author & as a first book, this is good stuff.

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
13mo

OutsmartYourShelf Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5262938117

Read 17th - 20th March 2023

#MarchMadness @DieAReader @andrew65 @Ghabi4roses 13mo

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 13mo

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