2020
A Novel
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In the tradition of 1984 and It Can't Happen Here, 2020 is a timely dystopian novel about a country divided, a terrorist attack, and an populist leader who promises he alone is the solution.
In 2020, Britain is at a breaking point. Years of economic turmoil, bitter debates over immigration, anger at the political elites, and fears about the future have created a maelstrom, a dis-United Kingdom, with citizens tempted to find easy answers in demagoguery and isolationism. The country is a bomb waiting to explode. Then it does.
A major terrorist attack targets a sleeper train traveling between Edinburgh and London, leaving a staggering number of dead and wounded. Investigators soon identify the culprits as a radicalized group of young British Muslims. Horrific images from the attack and speculation by the media fan worries about further terrorist acts and the danger of an enemy within. In the aftermath, two far right organizations join to create a new radical group called White Rose, promising to stand up for English values. An unproven leader vows thathe can fix the nation. As the nightmare unfolds, a myriad of voices—from across the social and political spectrum—offer wildly differing perspectives on the chaotic events . . . and unexpectedly reveal modern Britain’s soul with 20/20 acuity.
Thoughtful, compassionate, and provocative, Kenneth Steven’s 2020 is a parable for our times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Steven imagines a chillingly plausible near future in which a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom sparks a radical white nationalist backlash. Four young South Asian Muslims detonate a bomb on a sleeper train, killing over 160 people. In the aftermath, incendiary demagogue Eric Semple runs for Parliament in the fictional northern England town of Sudburgh, espousing the views of White Rose, a xenophobic nationalist group. His unexpected victory leads to violence against both Muslims and Brits, and his own kidnapping. Steven views the fracturing of British multiculturalism through a kaleidoscopic collection of witness statements and news reports. These frequently unidentified, poignant voices show confusion, pain, and righteous indignation from many angles, and include one bomber's mother, government officials, participants in shadowy sharia courts, aggrieved white working-class men, and a range of bystanders. The orderly nature of their accounts suggests depositions at an inquest, implying an eventual return to normalcy, but their words offer no sense of justice or easy answers. Characters rarely recur, though several pieces by a police officer recount his failure to intervene in the torture of a terror suspect, building a haunting picture of guilt and trauma. This complex picture of a fraught political future will leave readers unsettled by its terrifying plausibility.
