This is a genuine horror story, drawn gently in pastels. The darkness is there all the time, but by the time the writer begins to reveal it to us, we are too invested in the characters to back out. I kept reading, expecting that they would realize and run, but they meekly walk the path before them. That, I think, is the most horrifying aspect of the whole thing.
This book was nominated for many awards, but always the bridesmaid, never the bride. It was nominated for the award that the author won for The Remains of the Day, but I found it more interesting that it was nominated and shortlisted for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke award - a science fiction award. I suppose that anything which takes place in "some future England" qualifies as science fiction, and it certainly qualifies by my definition of science fiction as the fiction of logical consequences. The science is not the main thing here, although the consequences are. By the way, although it did not win any of the awards for which it was nominated, it did win a place on Time's list of the best 100 novels written in English since they began publishing in 1923.
So, do I recommend it or not? Yes, I guess I do, it is almost more an experience than just a book. It is an easy read, but not a comfortable one.
Ah, but it isn't set in some future England. What made it horrific to me was the fact that it was set in current time (actually past by now). That, and the way the narrator kept assuming I was just like she, made it the most horrific. Maybe I AM just like she, and I don't know that I, too, can run away.
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