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The Choice

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About this listen

Winner of the East Anglian Book Award for Fiction 2020

Imagine a world where....

Everything you ate was monitored by the government.

Every step you took was counted.

Your children were weighed every day at school.

Neighbours reported on neighbours and no one was safe from judgement.

Sugar was illegal, and baking was a crime.

Imagine if that world was here.... What would you do?

Toe the line or fight for your freedom....

©2019 Claire Wade (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group Baking & Desserts Cooking Dystopian Fantasy Fiction Food & Wine Science Fiction Women's Fiction Government

Critic reviews

"Electrifying." (Christina Dalcher, Sunday Times Bestselling author of VOX)

"A cleverly woven tale." (The Times)
All stars
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An enjoyable and thought-provoking listen that will leave you wanting to bake! I would recommend

Thought-provoking

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The plot is interesting, if a little unlikely, especially over the span of seven years. It feels like, for this new system to happen, it would take somewhat longer, especially to get a compliant population.

But the main character just frustrated the hell out of me. She was so selfish, careless and thoughtless. putting everyone else at risk, etc. I just found myself disagreeing with almost all her choices. The narrator did a good job though.

I am also curious about what happened to the men who objected to this despotic society. All we heard about were the women being locked up and what came after, which I won't spoil.

Mixed feelings...

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As I don't have a sweet tooth, I didn't expect to enjoy this book very much, but I found it hard to stop listening. It's not just about sugar!

The author has taken some real life trends, such as the ability to monitor people's purchases and activity level, and taken them to an extreme. She's created a world where there's intense pressure to conform, both from the community and the government. Although this world is a disturbing one it is light hearted and addictive rather than troubling to read.

It is a timely reminder of the importance of voting and the power of conscientious rebellion.

A gripping story

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The protagonist was painfully dull, and what is sold in the description as a dystopian scenario is really just a situation where no one can eat cake. The plot never picks up and the characters remain utterly two dimensional. I had points where I couldn’t quite believe how silly and boring it was. If you were looking something light hearted and silly then it would probably be lovely, otherwise it’s not for you.

Twee and tedious

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I love dystopian novels but the storyline in this lacked imagination and thought. Not my vibe

The concept is good, the story awful

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