I liked ‘The Carhullan Army’ very much. I haven’t read many dystopian novels (I can’t remember reading any except ‘Matched’ by Allie Condie) and so it was interesting to read one. I liked the main character Sister and how the story describes her escape from the confines of her life into a new world and how it transforms her as a person. I also liked the way the love between her and another person in the commune, Shruti, is depicted. I loved Sarah Hall’s wonderful prose and the many beautiful passages in the book. The last sentence in the book gave me goose bumps. Una mina se harta de ese estilo de vida. Sabe que en medio de las montañas hay una granja donde son todas mujeres y están por fuera del sistema. Un día se escapa de su casa y se va caminando a esa granja. Sarah Hall took a degree in English and Art History at Aberystwyth University, and began to take writing seriously from the age of twenty, first as a poet, several of her poems appearing in poetry magazines, then as a fiction-writer. She took an M Litt in Creative Writing at St Andrew's University and stayed on for a year afterwards to teach on the undergraduate Creative Writing programme.

Resting in the quaint village of Bowness-on-Solway, near Kirkbride in Cumbria is Shore Gate House, a fabulous four-bedroom property, full of character and charm. Set upon the coastline, offering far-reaching views across the beach, whilst featuring a sweeping garden with hot tub, en-suite bedrooms, and well-presented living spaces, the property welcomes twelve guests, perfect for larger families or group celebrations. It is set in a near future Britain, things are a little grimmer than actual contemporary Britain climate change means that the summers last into October, and that the familiar drizzle has gone to be replaced by occasional torrential downpours, a series of related crises have led to the take over of Britain by an authoritarian regime, the population has been concentrated into towns and cities, the countryside has mostly been abandoned, the health service has collapsed, the government is engaged in overseas war, or wars, allied with the USA The story is a found text, the confessional narrative of a woman who has escaped a town in Cumbria for a Women's collective based at Carhullan, a hill farm up in the fells by the Lake District. There’s more sex in The Carhullan Army than I had remembered – a raw, painful bout the narrator’s husband cajoles her into after the harrowing insertion of her legally mandated contraceptive coil; a tender encounter with one of the women in her work unit. But this intimate concern with the physical is of a piece with the sensual collection of short stories Hall published in 2011, The Beautiful Indifference. From the sore shoulders and blistered feet of her first escape to the lean limbs and shaven head of her new calling, the narrator’s journey from hopeful traveller to freedom fighter is written on her body. Sarah Hall ha creado un mundo que no se aleja en mucho del nuestro. Me horroriza cuando leo una distopía cruel y desesperanzadora, y me doy cuenta de que una realidad así podría llegar a existir. “(…) Ciudadanas de segunda y objetos sexuales. (…) No estás capacitada para un puesto de trabajo. A la mitad de las mujeres del mundo las estaban v.olando, y a la otra mitad, los fanáticos las obligaban a envolverse en telas negras. Nos pasábamos la vida discutiendo qué aspecto debían tener las mujeres y cómo debían vestir, pero nadie hablaba de sus derechos fundamentales”.

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Her work renders the darkest emotional landscapes with a sharp eye and a warm heart. Hall's acidic poetry follows through in The Carhullan Army'. - Mia Hansson, Time Out Whether imagining the future or the past, Hall’s evocation of place and atmosphere is a joy ... an accomplished, provocative novel. The farm and its community are a triumph of the imagination: you could almost believe the author had lived among them as part of her research. This, combined with the luminosity of the prose casting its light across an emotional and intellectual landscape as bracing as the fells themselves places The Carhullan Army at the vanguard of the new wave of futuristic dystopian literature.' - Martyn Bedford, Literary Review

Lower Carhullan promises to be a wonderful retreat that a family of all ages and tastes will enjoy. I haven't read this yet, but apparently environmental catastrophe hits and England is reduced to totalitarian camps. A much-mentioned feature of these camps is mandatory contraception for the women; a lottery is used to decide which few are allowed to bear children. Oh noes! Except, hang on--*bearing children is not an inaliable human right*, especially when there are not enough resources. I'm sure not having babies makes people sad, but starving to death feels a whole lot worse.

Sarah Hall writes beautifully captures the Cumbrian landscape and brutally realises her dystopian setting. Ultimately, the Carhullan women are definitely, vitally, female, but what makes them strong is their willpower, and their story is both full-blooded, compelling and real. Sin embargo tenía una cosa clara, entre mis manos había una narración altamente feminista y combatiente, además de una crítica política clara. The market town of Penrith lies 11 miles to the north, where you will find further amenities and attractions, along with a number of large supermarkets, some of which do deliveries to Lower Carhullan. In The Carhullan Army, Sister, as she is known, delivers her story from the confines of a prison cell. She tells of her attempts to escape this repressive world and her journey to join the commune of women at Carhullan, a group living as 'unofficials' in a fortified farm beyond the most remote Cumbrian fells. The journey is a challenge, but arrival is only the beginning of her struggle.