#BlogTour ‘The Choice’ by Claire Wade

About the book…

‘Eat the best, leave the rest! Remember Mother knows best.’

Olivia Pritchard lives in constant fear since Mother Mason came into power. Everything from healthy eating to exercise is controlled by the government, all in the name of health and happiness. Olivia hates being dictated to, but to protect her family she must follow the rules or face a stay in the Shame Box – a perspex box, placed in a public place for everyone to judge.

After Olivia witnesses an innocent woman being violently arrested, she is no longer able to ignore the injustice. The underground rebellion ‘Cut The Apron Strings’ is gaining momentum and for the first time in years Olivia has a choice: keep her head down or join the fray…

#CTAS #JoinTheFray

Huge thanks go as always, to Alainna at Orion for the blogtour invite! ‘The Choice’ was released as an ebook on December 26th and is available via all good ebook retailers.

”The women of the Mother’s Institute are nurturing a nation. You are leading the way for a happier and healthier world.Mother Mason thanks you.”

Olivia Pritchard used to be known as ‘The Queen Of Cakes’, until a landslide election victory by Mother Mason, social reformer and retired nurse swept into power.

In a post election world where certain foods are strictly rationed is banned and no one can be trusted, what place in the world is there for Olivia?

‘She glanced back up at the camera above them, the little red light watching and recording everything.She’d avoided the Shame Box and the Re-Education Programme so far, there was no way Alice was going to ruin her perfect record today.’

Her place is defined by society as being a good housewife, a good mother and that is all. To be such a woman, she has the strictest of rules to follow,put in  place by Mother Mason and her acolytes, monitored by guards at supermarkets, informed upon by neighbourhood watchdogs, and subtle, almost throwaway references to weighing plates at school yards, step counters being used to deliver ‘treats’ such a permission to watch television and so forth.

And the punishment for infringing these rules?

Shame boxes, disappearances into the Societal Evolution Programme and an ever pervasive sense of fear that those who vanish, will never return…

How do you begin to fight back against a leader who uses the phrase ‘Trust A Mother’s Love’ to such devastating effect?

”Men and women worked out at the Power Pro and Be Fit classes grinning as they exected their routines.’The obesity crisis is over,diabetes has been cured and the diagnosis rates for other conditions is down year on year.It is my aim that within the next five years all illness and disease is eradicated,and if you follow my Health and Happiness Programme,it will be. Won’t tha be wonderful?’ She paused for the group.’Yes’,they intoned. ‘What will it be?’ ‘Wonderful.’Alice’s tone matched the bitterness Olivia felt.”

This is what I loved about the book, the subversion of the naturing/nurturing female role to such devastating effect. It is the response to decades of ‘self abuse’ on substabces such as alcohol, fatty foods, cigarettes etc which has created a monster like Mother Mason, Captain Fit and Mary Vitasan. They sound like characters from a children’s show, but are more likely to inhabit your nightmares.

In the face of moral and social decline, the government try to claw this back by harsh and strict regimes, and it is the overheard conversation about family re-education centers for the worst ‘offenders’ and the sight of child sized bunkbeds which fire Olivia into action.

Baking as a political act-never has there been such an extreme of persepctives where the things we do as parents-nurture, feed and stimulate-is taken away from us as potentialy harmful. The contradiction of personal autonomy and state rule is firmly stated, in order to be a good citizen you have to put aside ‘want’ and ‘need’ for the greater good.

The points are subtly driven home, personal responsibility and collective social responsibility are intrinsically linked, but the solution to the problems which are driving us today-obesity, alcoholism etc-are not going to be eradicated by the banning of alcohol, rationing of butter and so forth. The underlying issues are the pressing weight of demnd/consume/work versus free time are not so easily solved by banning foods and compulsory weigh ins.

This is a thought experiment taken to its natural conclusion;in the absence of people being responsible for themselves and their children, someone needs to take control.But what if that person makes things even worse?

Terrifyingly real scenarios are created from the everyday-supermarket shops and trying on clothes for a formal occasion, have never been so fraught with danger and distress.

‘The Choice’ is a brilliant and very timely read that I would recommend for anyone who has enjoyed dystopian fiction such as ‘Vox’ by Christina Dalcher or ‘The Power’ by Naomi Alderman.

It will outrage you and worry you in equal measures, and , if like me you enjoy baking, you’ll take new pleasure from your baking cupboard and cherish each deep inhalation of vanilla extract, guilt free and not taken for granted.

About the author…

Claire Wade is the winner of the Good Housekeeping Novel Competition 2018. Her debut novel, The Choice, was published on 26th December 2019.

She was bed bound for six years with severe ME, trapped in a body that wouldn’t do what she wanted; her only escape was through her imagination. She now writes about women who want to break free from the constraints of their lives, a subject she’s deeply familiar with.

Her favourite things are books, baking and the WI. She’s the founding president of a modern WI (Women’s Institute) and runs a baking club for other cake lovers. You’ll find her in her writing room, nicknamed Narnia because it’s also home to a wardrobe and is the place where she escapes to other worlds. She’s happiest if she’s got a slice of chocolate cake, a cup of tea and a good book

Links-https://www.clairewade.com/

Twitter @clairerwade @orionbooks