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The Year of Compulsory Childbirth
 
 

The Year of Compulsory Childbirth [Kindle Edition]

Nigel Farringdon
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Product Description

A world ravaged by AIDS, with a depleted population. A European Federation torn between three factions: the Procrusteans, the Libertarians and the Faithful. A Procrustean leader who enters into an unholy alliance with the Faithful to conscript women to have children.

But geneticist Barbara Freeman does not accept the premise that collective survival takes precedence over civil liberties. Neither does rocket scientist Darii Lawson. To these free thinkers – whose parents were members of “the Logic society” – these expedient measures carry the foul stench of dictatorship. And they are prepared to fight against it. And they are prepared to fight against it.

But what weapons do they have in their arsenal when they find themselves in a minority? And how far are President Luther and Faithful leader Eric Chain prepared to go in the face of this resistance? In the end it comes down to a small band of dedicated people, including Barbara’s sisters and her aging mentor Sophia Magnus to take on the might of a tyrannical superstate.

In some ways similar to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but based on a short story written some ten years earlier, this book is a tour de force of Dystopian literature.

Fully revised and re-edited!

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 374 KB
  • Print Length: 288 pages
  • Publisher: House of Solomon (14 July 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005CXON4O
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #301,638 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Future Shock? 20 July 2011
By SbrKaye
Format:Kindle Edition
I must confess I have a passion for novels like "1984" and "Brave New World", so I had a feeling I was going to like this one before I started. This novel tells the story of a world in which women are conscripted to have children (shades of Margaret Atwood) after the world's population has been decimated by AIDS and other tragedies. Resistance comes from the immediate descendents of the original members of an academic organization called the "Logic Society" - who are all amusingly named after the various Aristotelian syllogisms. (The heroine is called Barbara and her sisters are called Bocardo, Baroco and Bramantip.)

The only surviving member of the original Logic society, Barbara's mentor Sophia Magnus ("Great Wisdom") acts as a sort of philosophical leader to Barbara, her sisters and a young man called Darii (who provides the love interest for Barbara, despite being a few years younger). It is the younger generation, however, who provide the story action as they engage in a campaign of resistance against the increasingly tyrannical authorities. The latter, for their part, are engaged in a rear-guard action against a theocratic organization called The Faithful who would happily carry the dictatorship forward to the next level.

I am not one for spoilers, but I will say that Farringdon is more of an optimist than Orwell or Huxley.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring 23 July 2011
By bekay
Format:Kindle Edition
It's a long time since I read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, but this book reminded me of it. I think the author may have been influenced by Anthony Burgess and maybe some of the American libertarian writers. Anyway, I can't add anything to the description of the book, all I will say is that it was clever, exciting and highly relevant to today's world. It's easy to write about freedom versus tyranny, but what Farringdon explores is why some people of liberal inclinations might be tempted towards pragmatic authoritarian solutions. In that sense, this book is a stark warning about the dangers of short-termism and range-of-the-moment expediency. It's also an exciting story.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Sci-fi satire and biting wit 5 Nov 2011
By Aramat
Format:Kindle Edition
I see I'm not the first to pick up on the Aldous Huxley connection and won't be the last. But it's the humour that does it. The premise is that an underpopulated world (due to AIDS and other factors) decides to take draconian steps to repopulate. This might not have any bearing on the current situation, but it is the author's clever way of asking a question that is equally applicable in an overpopulated or an underpopulated society: how far can you go in curtailing human freedom in order to preserve the human species as a whole. The author even introduces the book with a quotation from a couple of ecologists and environmental campaigners.
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