By C.J. Carey

Quercus, out now

Two years after “the Event”, Rose Ransom is unsure exactly what happened…

I suspect we’ve all have that experience of looking at a photo and not having any clue as to what we were doing when it was taken (if you’re lucky enough to be too young for that to happen yet, trust me, it’s coming!). But for many in the Stalin era in Russia it was the other way round – they could be sure that they had been present at the key event and had been in the photographs, but now they were no longer there. Usually that presaged their removal not just from the photographic record but from history.

It’s that rewriting of history that CJ Carey (aka Jane Thynne) draws on in the second book in her Widowland series.  It’s 1955, two years after the Leader’s fateful visit that formed the climax of the first book, and Rose is unsure as to exactly what her role in this was. In fact, everyone’s memories are increasingly hazy, and that’s no accident. But what’s more of a surprise to the reader who does know exactly what Rose did is how come a system as efficient as the Nazi regime in what used to be Great Britain has somehow left her alone? In fact it seems as if she is being prepared for an even greater role that simply revising poetry, one that involves Queen Wallis…

Carey’s worldbuilding continues to impress, adding a layer of Soviet specialty mind control to the system imposed by the Nazis (and thereby giving the country the feel of an even nastier Airstrip One from George Orwell’s 1984). Rose’s mission gives her, and us, the opportunity to find out what’s going on at all levels of society (the description of a visit to Hove is subtly chilling), and there is a constant rise of tension throughout as the American President’s visit draws nearer. It culminates in a beautifully described scene in Windsor where you can almost hear the clicks as the pieces slot into place, and then (to mix metaphors slightly) the dominoes begin to fall.

It’s very definitely the second part of a series – Carey reminds us of the state of play rather than establishing it as she does in book 1 – and I suspect some of the character insight given here will make you re-read Widowland with fresh eyes. Carey wears her research lightly, but you get the feeling she could tell you exactly what would happen if Rose turned left rather than right at any point. And the title? No spoilers here…

Verdict: Words continue to have power both on and off the page as Carey expands her alternate history to good effect. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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