The Meadows is a book that I cannot prise out of my head. This is one spilling over with emotions: anger, sadness, and a tiny kernel of hope. It is a quietly devastating book that hits almost too close to home. I have seen this described as a queer YA Handmaid’s Tale and I will say it captures that social commentary within a dystopian narrative. It has that same ferocity beneath a shimmering façade of respectability politics and an oppressive system that forces one to conform.
Stephanie Oakes’ particular target is that of the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy. This is ripped straight from the headlines, both in the US, UK, and beyond. You hear so many stories of this—particularly with the explosion of social media. The wilderness “therapy” camps and “treatments” come to mind instantly. These are horrific tales of abuse, power trips, and a fundamental attack on identity. They deserve no place in our modern culture and yet they persist. Oakes’ story is a rallying cry against this—in place, we have a quietly gorgeous love story that perseveres against the odds. However, this is definitively Eleanor’s story of learning to love and accept herself. That is the primary focus, with the other relationships weaved in. It is a defiant celebration of loving who you are in the faces of those who see you as a monster.
Eleanor is a protagonist like no other. She has a fierce passion and desire to be loved and accepted, but it is veiled beneath years of programming and a paranoia from a world determined to squash her. The acts of resistance she carries out are initially low level and only indicate an awareness of the flaws of the system, rather than full fledged attacks. What she experiences in the Meadows is beyond sickening. You can see the layers of gaslighting and manipulation; the way events are twisted and devised is nothing short of heart-wrenching. Yet, you too fall into the strange monotony of this world. You can see exactly what Oakes is trying to achieve and it is played out so well. Coupled with this, the narrative structure of moving between then and now—within the Meadows and outside allows for some interesting world-building and hints beyond this dystopian reality. Oakes weaves in some timely warning about the dangers of climate change. This adds another layer to the poignant social commentary, without feeling too laboured or over-explained.
Oakes’ writing is incredibly captivating. Every page carries a keen sense of urgency and suspense, as you follow Eleanor through her narrative. There is a sense of paranoia manifested through the eyes you can practically feel peering over your shoulder. This society has a continual sense of judgement, making every movement feel scrutinised. For me, this heightened the tension immeasurably. Every act of defiance has to be sugar coated and veiled beneath the mask of an extremified femininity. To break the system, you have to face it from inside. For Eleanor, that also means facing and unlearning everything she has been conditioned to believe. It also means facing some more personal histories that she would rather keep buried. There are some excellent twists in here, mostly tied to these introspective developments and are often an internal devastation, rather than a shocking bombshell.
Sometimes a book just makes you ache. The Meadows is one of those very books, leaving an ache deep in your bones and your heart. How you cope with that ache is up to you, but hopefully it spurs you to act in the defence of love.
The Meadows is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A queer, YA Handmaid’s Tale meets Never Let Me Go about a dystopian society bent on relentless conformity, and the struggle of one girl to save herself and those she loves from a life of lies.
Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter.
When Eleanor is accepted at the Meadows, it means escape from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster. But despite its luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, the Meadows keeps dark secrets: its purpose is to reform students, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. And maybe Eleanor would believe them, except then she meets Rose.
Four years later, Eleanor and her friends seem free of the Meadows, changed but not as they’d hoped. Eleanor is an adjudicator, her job to ensure her former classmates don’t stray from the lives they’ve been trained to live. But Eleanor can’t escape her past . . . or thoughts of the girl she once loved. As secrets unfurl, Eleanor must wage a dangerous battle for her own identity and the truth of what happened to the girl she lost, knowing, if she’s not careful, Rose’s fate could be her own.
A raw and timely masterwork of speculative fiction, The Meadows will sink its roots into you. This is a novel for our times and for always—not to be missed.
