Brother in the Land - Robert Swindells
When I was reading this book, I had somehow come under the belief that it was written a very young author - that Swindells had perhaps even been in high school when he wrote it. Since finishing it, I have learned that Swindells was actually much older, and that this wasn't even his first book.
I tell you this, because the revelation that Swindells was an author well in to his literary career came as a bit of a shock to me. Brother in the Land tells the story of Danny Lodge who, with his younger brother and parents, is living in the little English town of Skipley. When nuclear war breaks out Danny's life changes forever. As the book progresses life in Skipley goes from back to worse; by the end of the novel most of the people in Danny's life have died in one way or another, and although the book has a 'happy ending' of sorts, this is fairly 'tacked on' (literally. Swindells apparently added the last half of the final chapter ten years after first publishing the book) to the end of an otherwise quite melancholic work.
Facing danger from radiation poisoning, food shortages, scavengers, cannibals, corrupt officials and violence, you would think that Brother in the Land could be quite gripping, but although most chapters ended with a cliffhanger of sorts and I did have a vague interest in finding out what happened next, the book never really 'grabbed' me. And I think this is why I was so ready to believe that the author was unpolished. It is a fairly run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic young adult novel.
Nothing to write home about.
Completed 26 July 2022.
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