In the world of literature there are two things that the British do better than anyone else (and no, it isn’t write in English – the Indians do it better). The Brits write great children’s stories and great dystopian tales. Let’s look at the facts: Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll, CS Lewis, Enid Blyton to name just a few, and, of course, the biggest-selling author in the world today, JK Rowling. The sales of her Harry Potter books rival those of the world’s religious texts and have possibly been translated into more languages than the Bible. For those of little faith the Bible is a work of fantasy, and for those with a bit more knowledge it has become a work of fiction that bears little resemblance to the original truth. It has been translated into most languages, and part of the problem of its misunderstanding stems from its original multiple translations, not to mention judicious editing and revisions by “the church”, whoever that may be, (although Rowling’s recent volumes wouldn’t suffer from a bit of judicious editing.) And of course let’s not forget that the Christians had a marketing campaign that outnumbers the combined effects of cigarette, alcohol and junk food advertising together, in its death count. But I digress.
As I was saying, Britons write great children’s stories and great dystopian stories (although the Bible does have its share of apocalyptic tales). From George Orwell and Aldous Huxley to the comics, sorry graphic novels, of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, our view of the world has not always been such a rosy one. I’m not even going to attempt to surmise an anthropological reason for this as I am neither qualified nor can I be particularly bothered as I am likely to go off on another rant about the erosion of civil liberties in Blair’s Britain and how Orwell’s 1984 dystopia has become a reality to which most people are oblivious. Anyway, this is supposed to be a review of Tim Lott’s book Fearless and not a soapbox for my views on the political and spiritual malaise in this country.
Tim Lott is a Whitbread Award-winning author of adult fiction (but not that sort of adult fiction), and this is his first foray into the world of children’s publishing, and at times it shows. Writing for children is never easy and requires an ability to tell the story in language that is simple enough to be understood by a large variety of reading levels whilst not being patronising or condescending. Whether or not you like Harry Potter there is no denying the books are well-written, if a little too long of late, because they appeal to both adults and children alike. CS Lewis, Tolkien and Terry Pratchett all manage to span the age gap, or maybe it is that readers of fantasy stories never really grow up – that is grow up into boring people with no imagination.
Fearless is the story of Little Fearless, a young girl living in a near future world in a region simply known as The City. While it is not specifically Britain it does share enough attributes with it to make it resemble Old Blighty. Little Fearless lives in the City Community Faith School for Retraining, Opportunity and Hope, which is ostensibly a girl’s boarding school (another fine British institution favoured by fiction writers) but in reality is no more than a prison and slave labour camp overseen by a dictatorial leader known as The Controller, aided by his uniformed lackeys the X girls. All the girls are graded as X,Y or Z and given a number, but have nicknames based on their personality traits. Little Fearless is a rebel who is continuously punished and decides to escape to find the parents of her inmate friends (she is an orphan, like most other fictional children’s heroes) and tell them of the appalling conditions under which they live. Except she only escapes for a few hours at a time and then returns so as not to let the other girls be punished for her adventures.
While the story inside the institution is all about friendship and loyalty (and how bitchy girls can be to each other), it is LF’s adventures in The City that carry some of the strongest messages of the book as she encounters people so hoodwinked by the government and the church, which work hand in hand, that they don’t believe a word she says. Lott’s writing is a bit forced at times, particular in his descriptions of the world inside and outside the school walls, but the ideas he conveys are strong and relevant to the world we live in. From religious fundamentalism and terrorism, to the lies of politicians and the media, the subjects are raised in such a way that they will stimulate any intelligent child to look at the world in a different way, which is always a good thing.
The story has a positive, if not a happy ending, and although I saw one of the twists coming early on in the book, it is not that predictable, and another twist that was alluded to comes as a bit of a shock and will no doubt garner a few tears from its target young female readers.
It may not go down as one of the great classics of children’s literature, but it has plenty of thought-provoking ideas to offer and a hero that young girls can identify with, and a story that is both gripping and captivating. For adult fans of genre literature it is definitely worth buying for their offspring, nieces, nephews, grandchildren or godchildren to introduce them to concepts bigger than good wizards/elves versus bad wizards/elves.
Fearless by Tim Lott is published by Walker Books and is available now from Amazon. Hardback for £5.99 or paperback for £5.24.