The Returners
by Gemma Malley

Release Date: 22nd Feb 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978 1 4088 0090 4
RRP: £6.99

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Warning: Do not read before going to sleep...

I could write a thousand words or a thousand essays and still not have exhausted the depths of this incredible new novel from Gemma Malley.

In a not too distant future, a fifteen-year-old boy named Will is slowly losing control. He sees people; people who seem to recognise him, who are following him – people will hollowed-out eyes and gaunt expressions. Then there are the blank spaces; a distortion of a timeline, of his memory of his life. And not least is the awful loss of his mum; her suicide still bringing confusion, anger and anguish. But it is the reoccurrence of Will’s graphic nightmares; scenes from horrific atrocities throughout history that are the most frightening – and what if they aren’t just dreams – what if they are his own memories?

Racism, bigotry, fear, ignorance, the thirst for power – all sad aspects of the human condition. Our failure to learn from history, to learn not to make the same mistakes again; our ability to convince ourselves that THIS time it’s for a good reason, that it is justified. How quickly and easily we shed our humanity. All explored, dissembled, and probed by the author. You realise with a shock that you know someone who thinks like Patrick and maybe you sit shame-faced. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you keep quiet or even silently agree with him.

Above and beyond a disturbingly dark version of the future; The Returners questions the reality of free will versus fate or destiny and dares to hope. Hope that free will is the overriding force and that we control our own futures.

Malley has created a fine example of modern literature that is worth celebrating. Deeply provocative and essentially controversial; it forces us to re-evaluate our own beliefs and contemplate the bigger picture. To see beyond our own backyard and consider that human beings should be on the same team rather than enduring all this infighting. Absolutely should be on the curriculum; The Returners demands questions of us, demands reflection, to be studied, debated and ultimately guides each of us to a better understanding of self. I doubt I will read another novel this year that will set the mind alight with notions, ideas, thoughts, questions and possible solutions, the way The Returners does.

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