Carmen Maria Machado

Kay Dick

Introduced by Carmen Maria Machado, the radical dystopian classic, lost for forty years: in a nightmarish Britain, THEY are coming closer. 'A creepily prescient tale ... Insidiously horrifying!' Margaret Atwood 'A masterpiece of creeping dread.' Emily St. John Mandel 'Crystalline ... The signature of an enchantress.' Edna O'Brien 'Lush, hypnotic, compulsive ... A reminder of where groupthink leads.' Eimear McBride 'A masterwork of English pastoral horror: eerie and bewitching.' Claire-Louise Bennett 'I'm pretty wild about this paranoid, terrifying 1977 masterpiece.' Lauren Groff This is Britain: but not as we know it. THEY are coming closer . . . THEY begin with a dead dog, shadowy footsteps, confiscated books. Soon the National Gallery is purged; eerie towers survey the coast; savage mobs stalk the countryside destroying artworks - and those who resist. THEY capture dissidents - writers, painters, musicians, even the unmarried and childless - in military sweeps, 'curing' these subversives of individual identity. Survivors gather together as cultural refugees, preserving their crafts, creating, loving and remembering. But THEY make it easier to forget ... Lost for over forty years, Kay Dick's They (1977) is a rediscovered dystopian masterpiece of art under attack: a cry from the soul against censorship, a radical celebration of non-conformity - and a warning.

The Lost Dystopian 'Masterpiece' (Emily St. John Mandel)

They

This book is so much better than it ought to be. It holds ideas you’re familiar with, but deals with them in  original ways. Eerie and suspenseful, punchy and fresh. Plus it’s only 100 pages long. Just go read it right now real quick. 

Gabe Cortez

Imie Kent-Muller

‘A matter of choice,’ Sandy said. ‘If we lack choice we lack everything.’

I saw THEY appear on my twitter thanks to the great Faber campaign where it took over on publication day and was immediately intrigued by the cover. Once I understood this was a dystopia that had been rediscovered after being initially written in the 70’s and had a new forward by one of my favourite author Carmen Maria Machado - I knew I had to get it.

THEY is deliciously ambiguous. The story is split into different vignettes which seem to have the same narrator (and dog) but they are never named or described. We know they live in a world where there is this entity called THEY who take over and don’t allow any creativity. The little stories look at the narrator meeting groups of creatives still trying to practice their ‘crafts’ whether that’s painting, writing, sculpturing. They risk being taken to ‘retreats’ which will take away their individuality or they may even be killed.

The book doesn’t state when it’s set, it does mention London falling but not where the narrator (or narrators) are based. This allows your imagination to whirl around the story and make it seem real as you put your life into the pages. 

The speculative nature of the story shines the importance of creative freedom and nonconformity and through the stripped back stories this message really does shine through. The stories are addictive, as you want to learn more as you read through the little snapshots. It’s also terrifying as you can imagine this happening.

I also want to note that the introduction by CMM really added to the experience of reading it. Their personal experience with the book along with things they had picked up was really insightful and made me excited to continue reading.

If you’re into the dystopian genre or enjoy short reads that pack a thoughtful punch then I definitely recommend picking up They. It will leave you pondering about creativity and those who try to stifle it.

They The Lost Dystopian 'Masterpiece' (Emily St. John Mandel)

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