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The Carhullan Army

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The farmyard elevation of the north-west range has a full-height segmental arched entrance with finely laid voussoirs and chamfered stone jambs. Set in the part of England once known as The Lake District and frequented by hordes of landscape hungry tourists, “The Carhullan Army” is narrated by a young woman who has adopted the name Sister.

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest. Yes, they have shrunk, but as London is largely insignificant to us in the north already, it is the distancing of Carlisle (renamed Solway City) 20 miles away and the tiny villages such as Yanwath 3 miles from Rith (a small market town not a city in any way) that is far more revealing. It's an interesting twist on the futuristic doom and gloom prophecy, shot with plenty of pace and grit . The south-west range has a stable undercroft to one end that retains its timber stalls and original loft beams.A dystopian vision of a disturbingly near future in which the floods have risen and the oil has run out . Sister’s only hope – or so she thinks – lies in finding the Carhullan Army: a mythical band of women who lives a communal existence in the remote hills of Cumbria. A detached stone discovered during renovation work within the farmhouse (now re-sited) is crudely inscribed with the initials JL and the date 1676 set within an inscribed circle, and other rough marks are set within a rectangle below. And when Sister goes back to lovemaking with men as she trains for war, sex becomes little more than an angry and brutal need.

She emerges from a brutal spell in solitary confinement to find a kind of Eden – women working together to carve a rugged life out of the harsh surroundings. I didn’t mind this – it works well within the structure that Hall has used to share Sister’s narrative (which I won’t go into! During her journey she reflects on why she is doing this and this gives the author an opportunity to sketch out the miserable shape of future Britain.

The Carhullan Army presents a bleak dystopian vision of an England run by a police-like authoritarian regime, and while it may sound as though it’s all doom and gloom, I think that there is an element of hope in the narrative as well. At first I was very annoyed with the book, like some readers of Harry Potter I was 'What do you mean, presenting this as a Utopia, it's clearly fucked up! The majority of the novel takes place at a remote homestead that they’ve made their own, and it’s not until the end of the novel that things come to a head. Britain after its union with the United States and numerous unsuccessful foreign wars, has found itself in the grip of a severe fuel crisis and the country is now under the control of a severe body known as The Authority.

Is a perfect choice - that was the title of a magazine targeted at teenaged British girls featuring enthusiastic coverage of the latest six day wonder pop-star sensation and that kind of thing (view spoiler) [ unfortunately it is a very specific reference, I wonder if this and the Cumbrian setting account for so many of the low rating on Goodreads, this is a book that will make most sense to you if you have lived a long time in Britain and are of a certain age (hide spoiler)]. A testament to the triumph of the individual in dire circumstances, and a novel of extraordinary imagination, range and emotional complexity, The Carhullan Army has the visionary intensity and quality of great dystopian fiction.Litfest strives to encourage the enjoyment of and participation in reading, writing, illustrating and the discussion of ideas by placing them at the heart of Lancashire’s culture. Inside the building are some original moulded ceiling-beams, a fireplace with a corbelled head and a panelled partition and doors. We check for naughty words and verify the authenticity of all guest reviews before adding them to our site. In a side note about nature the use of gorse reminded me of a childhood favourite The Silver Branch (view spoiler) [ but that could be a false memory as maybe they use Broom (planta genista) in that story (view spoiler) [ forgive me, I am London born they are all just plants with yellow flowers to me!

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