Title: The Meadows
Author: Stephanie Oakes
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Dystopian
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: September 12, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A queer, YA Handmaid’s Tale meets Never Let Me Go about a dystopian society bent on relentless conformity, and the struggle of one girl to save herself and those she loves from a life of lies
Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter.
When Eleanor is accepted at the Meadows, it means escape from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster. But despite its luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, the Meadows keeps dark secrets: its purpose is to reform students, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. And maybe Eleanor would believe them, except then she meets Rose.
Four years later, Eleanor and her friends seem free of the Meadows, changed but not as they’d hoped. Eleanor is an adjudicator, her job to ensure her former classmates don’t stray from the lives they’ve been trained to live. But Eleanor can’t escape her past . . . or thoughts of the girl she once loved. As secrets unfurl, Eleanor must wage a dangerous battle for her own identity and the truth of what happened to the girl she lost, knowing, if she’s not careful, Rose’s fate could be her own.
A raw and timely masterwork of speculative fiction, The Meadows will sink its roots into you. This is a novel for our times and for always—not to be missed.
Review:
Every child hopes to receive a letter to attend a special school for the best and brightest children. Select kids aged 12-14 receive a letter, sending them to the school for four years, with a few other children the same age. Eleanor was invited to the Meadows, which is in a secret location, surrounded by endless fields. However, she doesn’t know that the school is meant to reform students to fit in with the way that society insists they follow. When Eleanor meets Rose, she realizes there is another direction her life can take. Four years later, Eleanor is working as an adjudicator, someone who makes sure that former children of those schools have been reformed. Eleanor can’t stop thinking about Rose and the mysteries that surrounded her time at the Meadows. She persists in finding answers, even if the cost will be her life.
This was an incredible story. It was set in a dystopian world where a climate disaster destroyed a lot of the world. Society is run by the Quorum, who monitors everyone with cameras and microphones to make sure they are living by their rules, particularly that men and women are not having relationships with the same sex. The most disturbing part is that this isn’t far off from the real world. Conversion therapy, like what was happening at these facilities where the kids were sent in the story, is still happening in the world. There was also a mystery element to the story while Eleanor looked for Rose after leaving the facility, that kept me turning the pages. I really didn’t want this story to end but I did love the way it ended!
The Meadows is a new YA dystopian that everyone should read!
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for sending me a copy!
Content warnings: homophobia, abuse, death of parents
Have you read The Meadows? What did you think of it?
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