Book Review: End of Story by Louise Swanson

Are you intrigued by the idea of books being banned? What`s a society without them, and how can anyone possibly survive in such a world? These are the questions that come to our minds when we think of imagined scenarios where books get confiscated and burned. But while this concept may sound far-fetched, there is a novel out there that follows exactly this storyline – one full of resistance, rebellion, fear, and suspense as well as moments of joyous victory. So, if you’re curious to read a story set in an authoritarian future depicted through the struggles of its characters fighting for freedom, I urge you to join me in today’s book review of Louise Swanson’s “End of Story”.

Click me to go to my Review

Released Today!

Synopsis

Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing

It has been five years since writing fiction was banned by the government.

Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.

But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding?

And who can be trusted?

About The Author

Louise Swanson’s debut End of Story arrives in March 2023. She wrote the book during the final lockdown of 2020, following a family tragedy, finding refuge in the fiction she created. The themes of the book – grief, isolation, love of the arts, the power of storytelling – came from a very real place. Swanson, a mother of two who lives in East Yorkshire with her husband, regularly blogs, talks at events, and is a huge advocate of openly discussing mental health and suicide.

She also writes as Louise Beech. Beech’s eight books have won the Best magazine Book of the Year 2019, shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year, longlisted for the Polari Prize, and been a Clare Mackintosh Book Club Pick. Her memoir, Daffodils, was released in audiobook in 2022, and the paperback version, Eighteen Seconds, will be out April 2023..

My Review

In a dystopian future, stories are forbidden, and former authors have been thrown into hidden prisons. However, the passionate power of storytelling pulses through 2035 – with its infamous Big Four books being among the last ever written before fiction was banned. Fern Dostoy wrote one such book to honour her late husband in grief…but it came at a cost; she now labours away under an alternate identity for meagre wages while two persistent police inspectors keep watch over her every move. Yet even as reality is heavily guarded by oppressive forces, people will still find ways to share their sacred tales –– making life quite difficult for any formerly famous author trying to stay isolated!

I have read Louise Swanson when she has written as Louise Beech and I believe this to be the first Swanson novel of hers. It’s quite different in style to her usual books and is more dystopian in feel, which isn’t usually my style but I loved this one. The writing is simple and flows so well. The concept has been done before (the banning of books) but I liked that this one felt like a normal day and time yet things are quite different. People are overtly watched and monitored and each week they hold a book amnesty for any found fiction to be handed in, only non-fiction is allowed.

I can’t even imagine living in a world without fiction!

I liked the characters and especially Fern, she does meander off a little in the middle but overall, was entertaining and paranoid. We see how drastically her life has changed from a best-selling author to nothing, a nobody living quietly in a new home where everything is different. The ideas mooted in her fictional book are interesting and give plenty of food for thought, though also a little terrifying!

I think the ending was what I enjoyed most though, and perhaps that is because I don’t really read dystopian novels, but Louise Swanson managed to make it all sound so believable in the huge twist and consequential fallout.

A great dystopian novel with plenty of emotion packed in.

Rated