3.0 

They

By Kay Dick & Lucy Scholes
They by Kay Dick & Lucy Scholes digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

A dark, dystopian portrait of artists struggling to resist violent suppression—“queer, English, a masterpiece.” (Hilton Als)

Set amid the rolling hills and the sandy shingle beaches of coastal Sussex, this disquieting novel depicts an England in which bland conformity is the terrifying order of the day. Violent gangs roam the country destroying art and culture and putalizing those who resist the purge. As the menacing “They” creep ever closer, a loosely connected band of dissidents attempt to evade the chilling mobs, but it’s only a matter of time until their luck runs out.

Winner of the 1977 South-East Arts Literature Prize, Kay Dick’s They is an uncanny and prescient vision of a world hostile to beauty, emotion, and the individual.

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They Reviews

3.0
“A phrase lived in the back of my mind during this read, “don’t let the b*st*rds grind you down”, it was a unique look into a dystopian setting with themes that still somehow resonate today almost 50 years later.”
“This novella particularly resonated right now with its themes of a faceless "they" trying to suppress art and individual expression through the use of surveillance, physical violence, and strategic isolation. I'm glad I read this book in one go. I think it would have been difficult to stop and start it due to the narrative structure.”

About Kay Dick

Kay Dick (1915–2001) was the first female director of an English publishing house, promoted to the role at the age of twenty-six and mixing with what she described “a louche set” that included Ivy Compton-Burnett, Stevie Smith, and Muriel Spark. From the 1940s through the ’60s, she and her long-term partner, the novelist Kathleen Farrell, were at the heart of the London literary scene. She published seven novels, a study of the commedia dell’arte, and two volumes of literary interviews.

Lucy Scholes

Lucy Scholes is a critic who lives in London, and is an editor at McNally Editions.

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