Widowland
C.J. CAREY
(QUERCUS, 400 PP, £14.99)
Tablet bookshop price £13.49 • Tel 020 7799 4064

Dystopian novels have been dealing in counterfactual speculation for almost a century, with the “what if” ­scenario taking a variety of forms. The Man in the High Castle sees America divided and ruled by Germany and Japan. Fatherland is set in post-war Europe occupied by Greater Germany. 1984 describes a country dominated by surveillance. The Handmaid’s Tale imagines a state where women are downgraded and categorised. Widowland makes use of many of these narrative strands: set in England in 1953, it centres on the coronation of King Edward and Queen Wallis following Germany’s annexation of Britain 13 years earlier.