CWEN - Alice Albinia

 

Description

On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, the impossible has come to pass. Women control the civic institutions. Decide how the islands' money is spent. Run the businesses. Tend to their families. Teach the children hope for a better world. They say that this gynotopia is Eva Levi's life's work, and that now she has disappeared, it will be destroyed. But they don't know about Cwen. Cwen has been here longer than the civilisation she has returned to haunt. The clouds are her children, and the waves. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth and halfway around the world. The islands she inhabits have always belonged to women. And she will do anything she can to protect them. This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. What are we? Islanders or mainlanders, migrants or landowners, men or women, past or future? Or a mixture of them all? And how do we make sense of these islands we call home?

Review

An interesting read but not really for me. The concept of this book really intrigued me and I did find parts of it fascinating. It certainly opened my eyes to different worlds. 

The story of Eva Levi's work is told through a court case, which I found to be a little dry to read. The case to answer being at Eva appointed only women to key roles and marginalised men on the island. At times when a witness began to tell their story the book took on a more lively approach, and it was those parts I enjoyed the most.

Cwen is (I think) a mystical force that sees what happens on the island and in turn recounts her own tales from down the ages. I didn't care for this part of the book and it was interspersed within the pages of the court case. 

The book is a brilliant concept and certainly made me think. However I personally found it hard going to read and at times understand completely.

My thanks to Serpent's Tail for a proof copy of this book to review.