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Untied Kingdom
Critically acclaimed writer James Lovegrove presents a chilling vision of a United Kingdom in disarray. After a series of disasterous political decisions the United Kingdom has finally fallen foul of the International Coummunity. Ostracized and bombed at random, the country has fallen apart. With the infrastructure in ruins, tiny communities struggle on relying on ancient traditions and myth for their structure and identity. In the village of Downbourne the mayor has styled himself the Green Man. But even he is powerless to stop a raid on the village by a London based gang who kidnap a number of the village's women. One of them is the schoolmaster's wife. Their marriage was an arid disaster, but the schoolmaster feels bound to do the right thing and sets off on a journey through an England at once terrifying and magical to get her back. But does this particular damsel even want to be rescued?
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
5 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
James Lovegrove
151 books669 followersJames Lovegrove is the author of several acclaimed novels and books for children.
James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was £15, and it had cost £18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic realities of a literary career.
Straight after graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Literature, James set himself the goal of getting a novel written and sold within two years. In the event, it took two months. The Hope was completed in six weeks and accepted by Macmillan a fortnight later. The seed for the idea for the novel — a world in microcosm on an ocean liner — was planted during a cross-Channel ferry journey.
James blew his modest advance for The Hope on a round-the-world trip which took him to, among other places, Thailand. His experiences there, particularly what he witnessed of the sex industry in Bangkok, provided much of the inspiration for The Foreigners.
Escardy Gap was co-written with Pete Crowther over a period of a year and a half, the two authors playing a game of creative tag, each completing a section in turn and leaving the other to carry the story on. The result has proved a cult favourite, and was voted by readers of SFX one of the top fifty SF/Fantasy novels of all time.
Days, a satire on consumerism, was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award (losing to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow). The book’s genesis most probably lies in the many visits James used to make as a child to the Oxford Street department store owned by his grandfather. It was written over a period of nine months while James was living in the north-west suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequent works have all been published to great acclaim. These include Untied Kingdom, Worldstorm, Provender Gleed, The Age Of Ra and the back-to-back double-novella Gig. James has also written for children. Wings, a short novel for reluctant readers, was short-listed for several awards, while his fantasy series for teens, The Clouded World, written under the pseudonym Jay Amory, has been translated into 7 other languages so far. A five-book series for reluctant readers, The 5 Lords Of Pain, is appearing at two-monthly intervals throughout 2010.
He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times, specialising in the Young Adult, children’s, science fiction, fantasy, horror and graphic novel genres.
Currently James resides in Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast, having moved there in August 2007 with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy. He has a terrific view of the sea from his study window, which he doesn’t sit staring out at all day when he should be working. Honest.
James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was £15, and it had cost £18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic realities of a literary career.
Straight after graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Literature, James set himself the goal of getting a novel written and sold within two years. In the event, it took two months. The Hope was completed in six weeks and accepted by Macmillan a fortnight later. The seed for the idea for the novel — a world in microcosm on an ocean liner — was planted during a cross-Channel ferry journey.
James blew his modest advance for The Hope on a round-the-world trip which took him to, among other places, Thailand. His experiences there, particularly what he witnessed of the sex industry in Bangkok, provided much of the inspiration for The Foreigners.
Escardy Gap was co-written with Pete Crowther over a period of a year and a half, the two authors playing a game of creative tag, each completing a section in turn and leaving the other to carry the story on. The result has proved a cult favourite, and was voted by readers of SFX one of the top fifty SF/Fantasy novels of all time.
Days, a satire on consumerism, was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award (losing to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow). The book’s genesis most probably lies in the many visits James used to make as a child to the Oxford Street department store owned by his grandfather. It was written over a period of nine months while James was living in the north-west suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequent works have all been published to great acclaim. These include Untied Kingdom, Worldstorm, Provender Gleed, The Age Of Ra and the back-to-back double-novella Gig. James has also written for children. Wings, a short novel for reluctant readers, was short-listed for several awards, while his fantasy series for teens, The Clouded World, written under the pseudonym Jay Amory, has been translated into 7 other languages so far. A five-book series for reluctant readers, The 5 Lords Of Pain, is appearing at two-monthly intervals throughout 2010.
He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times, specialising in the Young Adult, children’s, science fiction, fantasy, horror and graphic novel genres.
Currently James resides in Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast, having moved there in August 2007 with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy. He has a terrific view of the sea from his study window, which he doesn’t sit staring out at all day when he should be working. Honest.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 18, 2014
One of those 'end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine(ish)' kind of books. People trying to do familiar things and have normal relationships etc. but they can't really because the world is very different to what we are used to; a 'what would happen if..' kind of a thing.
Having said that, I wonder how close the events and situations in this book are to how things are in certain parts of the world right now. I think it's possible that an English person would read this book in a different light to someone living in Iran at the moment (sanctions) or in Libya in 2011 (bombings) or Serbia in 1999 (bombings) where perhaps the events of the book would resonate a little more.
But then again, perhaps this is the author's point: how would we feel if it happened to us? Makes you think!
Having said that, I wonder how close the events and situations in this book are to how things are in certain parts of the world right now. I think it's possible that an English person would read this book in a different light to someone living in Iran at the moment (sanctions) or in Libya in 2011 (bombings) or Serbia in 1999 (bombings) where perhaps the events of the book would resonate a little more.
But then again, perhaps this is the author's point: how would we feel if it happened to us? Makes you think!
March 30, 2017
Brilliant read!
September 10, 2021
Four stars for the prose, and finally answering a question I always have when reading a post-apocalyptic novel set in one country, which is always 'What is happening to the rest of the world?'
(The fact that it's 'They're fine without England, actually' seems more than appropriate after Brexit)
3.5 stars overall because I'm kinda disappointed with Moira's story. She basically goes from depressed to stockholm syndrome ridden & sleeping with the guy who owns her and turned the women from her village into sex slaves. But hey he doesn't *really* want to do that, and he's so handsome! And maybe things are slightly better at the end! Look she's gonna have a baby! Like, shut up. The only reason I'm not more annoyed is because it seemed...sadly in character for her. She was looking for a purpose. Guess she got one? Even if it's 'sometimes making the tyrant listen to reason'. And it's not like she ever really cared about the other women beyond 'eh that sucks I guess'.
Most of the characters in this book were real in petty, unhappy little ways. Fen wasn't great either. But he and Moira both felt...annoyingly real. You just want to tell yourself you'd behave better in those situations, but you probably won't.
(The fact that it's 'They're fine without England, actually' seems more than appropriate after Brexit)
3.5 stars overall because I'm kinda disappointed with Moira's story. She basically goes from depressed to stockholm syndrome ridden & sleeping with the guy who owns her and turned the women from her village into sex slaves. But hey he doesn't *really* want to do that, and he's so handsome! And maybe things are slightly better at the end! Look she's gonna have a baby! Like, shut up. The only reason I'm not more annoyed is because it seemed...sadly in character for her. She was looking for a purpose. Guess she got one? Even if it's 'sometimes making the tyrant listen to reason'. And it's not like she ever really cared about the other women beyond 'eh that sucks I guess'.
Most of the characters in this book were real in petty, unhappy little ways. Fen wasn't great either. But he and Moira both felt...annoyingly real. You just want to tell yourself you'd behave better in those situations, but you probably won't.
July 9, 2022
An interesting book, especially in the light of recent events in the (still just about tied) UK. The two threads of the dtorybweave together in interesting ways in the latter stages and there's an interesting mix of a Ballardian tour through a very British dystopia and the more gritty urban drama happening elsewhere.
August 19, 2019
The summary blurb from the back cover is a pretty good summary of the plot without giving too much away. The book is set in England after social collapse following some poor political decisions by the government. Wales, Scotland and Cornwall have walled themselves off from England, which is stubbling along and hoping that things will get back to normal. Live has regressed to a simpler existence but seems relatively peaceful in the small town of Downbourne.
Of course, that peace doesn't last too long. An unexpected event leads the local teacher, Fen Morris, to travel across the country to London. As with many post-apocalypytic stories, this leads to a series of encounters with various people and situations, although I won't spoil them by discussing. There are some good ideas here and the book is well written.
There is repeated bad language at points, and some 'unpleasentness', but it doesn't go into a lot of gory detail.
Of course, that peace doesn't last too long. An unexpected event leads the local teacher, Fen Morris, to travel across the country to London. As with many post-apocalypytic stories, this leads to a series of encounters with various people and situations, although I won't spoil them by discussing. There are some good ideas here and the book is well written.
There is repeated bad language at points, and some 'unpleasentness', but it doesn't go into a lot of gory detail.
October 20, 2022
Frighteningly prophetic, and more so by the day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews