Dreamland: An Evening Standard 'Best New Book' of 2021

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The narrative proper begins a decade earlier, when Chance is seven years old. She is living in temporary accommodation in London with her mother Jas, and her older half-brother JD, who has ADHD. Jas is at the end of her tether. After being pushed from one unsuitable B&B to another, she takes advantage of a scheme organised by an up-and-coming politician, Rex Winstable, offering cash to families willing to move out of London and relocate to coastal towns in the southeast of England. Jas insists this will be a new start for all of them, a “clean slate.” But on arrival in Margate, it is clear that those with money and somewhere else to go have already moved out, leaving the town increasingly impoverished, and without the wherewithal to combat the changes that are on their way. Dreamland’s main problem is tangential to this, and more specifically to do with its use of speculative materials. Rankin-Gee’s novel is no cosy catastrophe, and its focus on communities, on the fraying social fabric of a divided nation, is to be commended. However, as a regular reader of science fiction I feel like I’ve read literally dozens of novels like this, stories that follow the same basic trajectory: things were kind of OK for us, then they got worse, then some unprecedented event from outside (asteroid strike, Kraken, zombie war, megatsunami, whatever) made things so much worse. And they kept on getting worse until we died or were saved. Dreamland is set in the near future, a dystopian novel that highlights some very real potential threats to the UK and its seaside towns. Chance is our main character, from a poor family suffering in London who are given the seemingly optimistic opportunity to move to Margate and start a new life. The realities of this move drag Chance’s family into a situation that is just as bad as before, but with some added drama too. A content warning for sustained drug use, domestic abuse, suicide and death is definitely needed! They are handled well, but run graphically through the book – so just be aware! 🙂

Dreamland | New Humanist Book review: Dreamland | New Humanist

With zero employment opportunities, JD begins dealing drugs while Chance, aged 13, develops a talent for breaking into empty properties. Chance’s voice is naïve and knowing – she’s barely out of childhood but has had to hone her survival instinct from an early age. Chance’s mother wades through a succession of unsuitable men, until JD’s business partner, Kole, drifts into their orbit and Jas develops an unhealthy obsession with him. Kole moves the family into a claustrophobic high-rise flat overlooking the sea. He is a cold, controlling presence, and Jas fails to protect her children from his machinations. Chance's family is one of many offered a cash grant to move out of London - and so she, her mother Jas and brother JD relocate to the seaside, just as the country edges towards vertiginous change. The Mirror's travel newsletter brings you the latest news and expert analysis from across the industry, as well as plenty of travel inspiration.Yes. I suppose that’s why the movie is necessarily a major departure from the book. The movie version is a thriller, with a plot to match. But those characters actually play only bit-parts in the original book. They feel like very separate cultural objects. The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton and our new Mirror Book Club book of the month - Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin (see below) Chance’s family is one of many offered a cash grant to move out of London - and so she, her mother Jas and brother JD relocate to the seaside, just as the country edges towards vertiginous change. The storyline was unpredictable in a fantastic way. There were quite a few developments that I didn't see coming but most don't hit as big twist moments, instead you're subtly given information that allows you to build your own picture.

Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee By Nina Allan Strange Horizons - Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee By Nina Allan

There’s even a tubthumping fringe politician who “says it like it is” and keeps saying it like it is until he’s manoeuvred himself into power, ready to turn on the people he’d hoodwinked to get him there. This book definitely earns the title of a rollercoaster and not even a rusted one from Dreamland. My heart was broken by multiple characters, multiple times, and Rankin-Gee’s characters all have intricate layers that lay under their initially tough exteriors. Chance, our protagonist, goes through such a journey and it’s both full of hope and filled with despair. She is such a complex character, who has to adapt so much. Most of Margate’s shops are boarded up and the Turner Contemporary is a haven for drug users. Pubs open and shut at random, the booze subsidised to the point of being free to keep the locals docile along with the kem.

A beautiful book: thought-provoking, eerily prescient and very witty.’ Brit Bennett, author of I think that depends. Dystopia, by definition, is a society where people live in states of extreme inequality. And by that definition, there’s never been a time when the world hasn’t been dystopian; it’s decidedly dystopian right now.