Book of the Week

Fugue for a Darkening Island by Christopher Priest
Recommended by Daniel Illis

As thousands of migrants pour into Europe from the Middle East, one is often left wondering just what to think. Should you support the helpless migrants, displaced from their homes, or side with an apathetic population bearing the brunt of economic crisis, not able to cope with such an influx?

Fugue for a Darkening Island, written in the 1970s by Christopher Priest is a novel which poses the latter question to the reader. The plot goes something like this: a continent-wide crisis in Africa causes a tidal wave of refugees to flood into Britain, where a newly-elected government struggles to cope with the cascade. Chaos soon breaks out and leads to a civil-war, in which the whole population is engulfed.

Throughout the novel, Priest purposefully villainises the migrants and the British population in the narrative, creating a sense of uneasiness in oneself. The 'playing-off' also challenges the reader's own morals, making him re-think his attitude towards today’s crisis.

Also significant is Priest's use of an anti-hero. Alan Whitman, a university lecturer living in a faltering marriage is our spineless, unfaithful and lazy protagonist. It is interesting to see the events from such a deeply flawed character’s perspective, rather than the persecuted heroic figure or all-guns-blazing military figure more usually seen in dystopias.

So if you are looking for a novel with a gripping narrative, interwoven with timely and important themes (as well as death and explosions), read Fugue for a Darkening Island.