The Quickening by Talulah Riley

Does the world seem right, to you?

Years ago, Dana Mayer had a vision of a better world: one where women are in charge. Now her manifesto, The Quickening, has established the rules for a new order, designed to elevate and protect women. A genteel and peaceful society that prioritises nature, good manners and aesthetics. Of course, in order for women to maintain control, the freedoms of men have been necessarily limited.

Arthur Alden loves Dana Mayer but hates the world she has created. But can he find a way to resist, without losing everything? And with Dana intent on making men pay reparations for their past crimes, can Arthur be allowed to live without punishment?

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This sounded really intriguing, from the description. A world with women in charge! Can't be much worse than what we've got now, right?

Turns out it's a reverse Handmaid's Tale, with men as the subjugated gender (as in Handmaid's, there's no mention of trans people of any kind.) It's also rather confused; we have two points of view, and each of them bounces back and forth in time, from before the Quickening, to just after, to several years after, and any point inbetween, with no warning or signposting. It's tricky to follow. And having read the whole thing, I'm still not sure how the Quickening came about; there is vague reference to a plague that killed mostly men, and a war that doesn't seem to have affected Britain except that it doesn't trade anything but men away now, but nothing about how it was actually brought into being and enforced. It seems unlikely that men just went along with it.

For those readers who enjoy puzzling out a timeline, this will be a good read. I found it tough to get through in some spots, but overall I enjoyed it well enough. It's an interesting thought exercise, at least - and I did not hate the new laws freeing women from working during their periods!

The Quickening publishes on the 23rd of June, 2022. I recieved a free copy and am giving an honest review.