The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey: REVIEW
Synopsis
This is a difficult book to summarize without spoiling anything, so I’ll let the Goodreads summary do the talking:
“After a very different outcome to WWII than the one history recorded, 1979 England is a country ruled by a government whose aims have sinister underpinnings and alliances. In the Hampshire countryside, 13-year-old triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents at the Captain Scott Home for Boys, where every day they must take medicine to protect themselves from a mysterious illness to which many of their friends have succumbed. The lucky ones who recover are allowed to move to Margate, a seaside resort of mythical proportions.
In nearby Exeter, 13-year-old Nancy lives a secluded life with her parents, who dote on her but never let her leave the house. As the triplets’ lives begin to intersect with Nancy’s, bringing to light a horrifying truth about their origins and their likely fate, the children must unite to escape – and survive.”
My Review
In some ways, this book makes no sense. In other ways, it’s extremely predictable. But in every possible way, I don’t care. It’s brilliant.
Throughout the story, we switch back and forth between the perspectives of Vincent, Nancy, and the Minister of Loneliness, Sylvia. And this is why the predictability of the “twist” doesn’t bother me – Vincent and Nancy are innocent, sheltered children who don’t know the things we know about the world, and we’re seeing their lives through their perspectives. Of course they don’t know what’s going on. And in the scenes from Sylvia’s perspective, the reader can tell she knows what she knows. She’s desperately trying to hold it in and very nearly failing.
So, while in many books like this I would feel as though the author is talking down to me, thinking I’m going to be shocked by their big twist that really isn’t hidden very well, in this case I felt as though I was in on the secret against my will and was powerless to tell these poor kids and help them. Much like Sylvia feels.
What I loved
The characters are beautifully drawn and given unique personalities and voices. I quickly came to feel attached to every single one of them. Yes, even William. (Up to a point.)
And I think Chidgey offers deep insight into human behaviour here. Because, even though at times this story teeters on the edge of the wildly implausible, there isn’t any point at which it doesn’t feel possible. Especially with the setup being that WWII was 2 years shorter and fizzled out with peace accords and compromises. Without those last 2 years of atrocities and destruction, and without the Allies liberating the concentration camps and learning what we learned from seeing them firsthand, post-war life would have been very different. Prepare to think long and hard about uncomfortable truths when you read this book.
The writing overall is absolutely stellar. I need to read more from Chidgey.
What I didn’t love
There’s one minor plot-hole at the end that threatened to bug me, but I decided to dismiss it as a lie. Everything else had been perfect up until that point. Maybe it’s even been fixed in the official printing? I read an advance reader copy, so it’s hard to know. But technically, there was nothing I didn’t love about this book.
Conclusion
The Book of Guilt seems pretty blameless to me. (Sorry, I had to!) It’s a genius blend of the sci-fi, dystopia, literary, and historical fiction genres, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it makes several award short lists.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing this ARC for review consideration.
You can buy The Book of Guilt here on Bookshop.org*, or look for it wherever you get books.
*As an affiliate, I’ll receive a small commission from any purchase made through this link.