47North Books, February 21, 2017.
Five Stars
This novel is the second of the Road to Nowhere series, and the sequel to the fantastic, original
novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife.
Although it’s possible to read The Book
of Etta on its own, I think you would get much more out of the novel by reading
them in order. In the first book, the Unnamed travels across the United States
after a shocking epidemic has destroyed the world as we know it today. Most of
the world’s population is gone, and of the survivors, only one in ten are
female. Childbearing is extremely dangerous, and women are in high demand,
although they are mostly objectified as slaves.
Etta’s story takes place about a century after the
Unnamed Midwife finally settled in a former army barracks, now known as the
village of Nowhere. The inhabitants of the village live in relative safety, and
many of the women have been able to survive childbirth – in fact, being a
Mother is the most valuable thing a woman can be, creating a sort of throwback
to our own past. The Unnamed has become a folk hero for the villagers, although
her story has been distorted over the years. Like her, everyone in Nowhere
keeps a journal of their experiences in this new world – but Etta has a hard
time writing about her life, because she has a secret.
Etta’s mother wants nothing more for her daughter
than for her to reproduce and become honoured and valued as a Mother. However,
Etta wants more from her life, so she works as a scavenger, exploring outside
the city gates for extended periods of time. Like the Unnamed Midwife, Etta
finds it easier to travel if she is disguised as a man – so when she is on the
road, she becomes Eddy. The disguise is ostensibly for safety, but more
importantly, Eddy is a transgender man who only feels like his true self when
he’s on the road.
Eddy scavenges for supplies, but he also tries to
rescue the young girls being held by slave traders – if he paid for them, it
would encourage the trade to grow larger, so he takes the girls by force, and
brings them back to join the community of Nowhere. At home, Eddy reverts to his
role as Etta, but even then, she does not fit into the traditional female roles
provided for her. She sneaks away to visit her girlfriend Alice – they must
hide their relationship because women should be breeding with men. Even
homosexuality between men is disallowed in Nowhere – the most important
priority is to have children, and individual sexual preferences are strongly
discouraged.
This novel explores the complexities of gender and
sexuality against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world where women are
commodities and men are either dangerous or disposable. It is a gritty, stark
look at humanity, especially in light of the misogynistic political world we
now live in. Etta’s world is very dark and certainly dystopian, but it also
showcases several different communities that are attempting to forge a new path
in this world. Although not all of them are successful – and some are brutal
and shocking – there are elements of hope here too. Unlike in The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, there
are no longer any ties to our world, but history – and the subjugation of women
– is still repeating, making it feel depressingly like an inevitable part of
humanity.
Once again, this second novel in the Road to Nowhere series is an
imaginative, unpredictable story. It is filled with the kind of powerful
writing that you can get completely caught up in, letting Etta’s world
sometimes feel more real than our own. The third and possibly final book in
this series will follow Flora, an unusual, passionate woman that Etta meets on
her travels. With Flora’s story, I’m sure we will once again see a thoughtful
exploration of gender identity in a world that is so different and yet eerily
similar to our own. I can’t wait to read it.
I received this book from 47North Books and NetGalley
in exchange for an honest review.
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