Algonquin Books, July 11, 2017.
Three Stars
When the
English Fall chronicles the lives of the peaceful
farmers in an Amish community in Pennsylvania. When a catastrophic solar storm
leads to the collapse of the “English” (the Amish name for any non-Amish
people), the community continues its self-sufficient way of life. Meanwhile,
the world around them has effectively come to an end.
Modern life is at a stand-still – with no electricity
and no way of trading, the English soon run out of food. In contrast, the Amish
have storerooms full of meat and vegetables, as well as their ongoing crops in
the field. It proves to be too much of a temptation to the people around them,
who become desperate and invade the Amish farms. Instead of trying to work
together, the English come with violence that they wreak on the peaceable
community.
The story is told through the diary of a farmer named
Jacob, who lives on the land with his wife, son and daughter. The daughter has
had seizures in the past in which she foresees the fall of the English – where she
was once an outcast for this oddity, she is now viewed as a prophet for the
Amish community. I thought that the daughter’s role could have been a much
stronger part of the story – there were some really good plot elements that
were left unexplored.
The novel begins with the discovery of Jacob’s diary
by the military, years after the apocalypse. Again, I thought this aspect of
the plot would be developed much further – I kept waiting for the timelines to
come together, but the novel ended suddenly and without resolution. When the English Fall has the potential
to be an excellent examination of civilization and what is left when it is
stripped down to its core – especially when a non-violent community must
consider taking up arms to defend itself. Overall, it was just too short and
lacking in depth. However, if the author chose to develop this plot further, I think
it could be something great.
I received this book from Algonquin Books and
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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