Vox by Christina Dalcher

“Think about what you need to do to stay free.”

Described as the next ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ this book is extremely thought-provoking in its premise; the world that Dalcher creates is very similar to the world that Atwood presents in her dystopian novel, whereby women are second-class citizens and society has been restructured around a very harsh and unforgiving interpretation of the bible.

However, in Vox women are forced to wear a bracelet – reminiscent of a home-arrest anklet – that monitors the number of words that they say in a day and once their counter reaches 100 they will begin to receive an electric shock, which increases in intensity the more they speak.

The narrative style and language is quite simplistic and reads much like a young adult novel. But it will nonetheless spark a deep anger with you and will hopefully have you all fighting against the patriarchy.

#FLODown: The changing nature of the relationship between mother and son really highlights the strain that sexism and for want of a better phrase, the patriarchy, has on both men and women.

Words by Mollie Kate Cohen