Femlandia: The gripping and provocative new dystopian thriller from the bestselling author of VOX

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For Miranda, the secluded Femlandia is a last resort. Life outside the gates is fraught with danger, but there’s something just as sinister going on within. The 'percussion' part is a beginner part and can be played on any drum. It adds a simple rhythm layer to each piece. Timpani and full percussion parts are for intermediate or Grades 4/5 What I was really interested in here was how the community functioned in comparison to the outside. What are the rules and why have they been enforced? What are relationships like? It seemed there was very little democracy, with the women being ruled over by a leader, but there was no real exploration of this. If this is being depicted as a cult, I want to know more about it.

When the Helsinki Philharmonic took Finlandia on the orchestra’s first major tour of Europe, Sibelius also began to make a name for himself outside of Finland. One can feel Sibelius’s sense of the purpose of his music in his writings of the time: “I can win a place, I believe, with my music. No, I don’t believe; I know I can.” Clearly, he felt that he was winning a place for his country as well as himself, and when the Finnish parliament declared independence from Russia in December 1917, this feeling was crystallised in the music of Finlandia. “We fought 600 years for our freedom and I am part of the generation which achieved it,” he wrote. “Freedom! My Finlandia is the story of this fight. It is the song of our battle, our hymn of victory.” From then on, Finlandia remained a constant source of inspiration for patriotic Finns, with the poet Veikko Antero Koskenniemi writing his own lyrics to the “Finlandia Hymn” in response to Russian aggression during the Second World War. This version of the hymn has become a kind of unofficial national anthem of Finland, though it seems Sibelius himself was ambivalent about the choral aspect of his work, saying, “It is written for an orchestra. But if the world wants to sing it, it can’t be helped.” Finlandia is probably the most widely known of all the compositions of Jean Sibelius. Most people with even a superficial knowledge of classical music recognise the melody immediately. The penultimate hymn-like section is particularly familiar and soon after it was published the Finlandia Hymn was performed with various words as far afield as the USA.Usually I enjoy Christina Dalcher’s books. Neither Vox nor Q (AKA Master Class) were particularly complex books, but there was a thematic consistency to them and the storylines were straightforward if not nuanced. Overall, however, it was an excellent read. Very dark and maybe not the right sort of genre to read when our real world feels like we are living in a dystopian nightmare but ‘enjoyable’ nonetheless.

Undoubtedly the most famous composer ever to come out of Finland, Jean Sibelius (pronounced Zhaa(ng) Sib-ayli-uss) completed seven amazing symphonies and a host of vivid descriptive music using his beloved country as inspiration. After this at the age of 59, he abruptly retired from music and spent his remaining 30 years happily surrounded by his family. He said simply that his final 7th symphony could not be bettered - so why try?

I am currently reading Planet of Exile by the superb Ursula K. Le Guin as well as The Employees by Olga Ravn, which has me thoroughly intrigued at the moment. I hope that anyone that has read this whole thing is enjoying their current reads too. Miranda tried to remain so positive throughout this book. She suffered quite a lot and had her teen daughter to care for as the world crumbled around her. In a last ditch effort to keep them both alive she turns to Femlandia. my problems with this book aren't ideological—i don't read books to see my beliefs mirrored, nor do i read books to have my beliefs challenged. i'm willing to roll along wherever the author chooses to have their characters take me, but at the end of it all, i want there to have been a purpose for the journey—not necessarily a lesson or a stance, but give me something to digest at the end of it; even something as writing 101 as setting or character growth or conflict resolution. All parts have been designed to work together to enable mixed-ability groups to perform together. A certain amount of simplification has been required to adapt the pieces for mixed-ability. Some pieces have been cut to allow a 3-5 minute general duration and to remove especially difficult passages of music. A successful rendering of each piece would require the essential melodic material and bass line which are often in the Grades 4/5 parts, especially in the piano.

Near future America is easily a frightening place in any imagination, and in Christina Dalcher’s third novel Femlandia, America in 2022 is a completely broken, lawless society. After a massive economic breakdown, things rapidly fall apart, supply chains run dry, violence is the only thing that works, there is little food to be found, and everyone is left scavenging as best they can, both for food and safety. 40-something Miranda and her 16 year old daughter Emma have been trying to eke out a survival in their home, but Miranda knows that they won’t be able to stay there much longer. There aren’t many options for them, other than to go to the one place Miranda had sworn off from years ago—Femlandia, the women only commune her mother Win had established before the world broke, a community that is ‘Women Oriented. Self sufficient. Cooperative. Safe. Accepting. Natural. Free’.But I’m warning you: this book is not for everyone. If you cannot handle nightmarish dystopian thrillers with graphic violence, you get to choose another read. Another one of the many self-plagiarising ideas that we see used in all 3 of these novels is the idea of the "easily indoctrinated child". I really enjoyed, “Vox,” by Christina Dalcher and, although I haven’t yet got around to reading her previous novel, “Master Class,” I was intrigued to read and review her latest. Like “Vox,” this is dystopia, but set within the boundaries of a society that we recognise. The worst thing about this book is the marketing behind it. That's not the author's fault so I won't blame her for that. When you write a book that ends up being called "feminist", people assume you'll write another one that is similar. If they see the title "Femlandia", it'd be even more clear to them. The marketing team will use the success of the previous book to promote this one in a similar fashion. It all makes sense. HOWEVER, this book is not a feminist book, it is an anti-feminist book.

So disappointing, really. The characters were so one-dimensional and unlikeable. I wasn’t impressed with the writing style and much of the narrative was a slog to get through. I’ve read 2 other books by this author but since all 3 now seemed basically the same plot line and outcome, I’m over it. I could go on, but I won’t ruin this book for any fans who really love it. I didn’t. I felt immediately pulled in and intrigued…I cannot wait to see what is going to come next from this author' This is music about national identity. It captures not only the vast, majestic landscape of Finland but also its national pride at a crucial moment in the country's history. Miranda did not want to move to Femlandia, but the country where she was living was collapsing and danger was all around her. So, she and her daughter, Emma, had no choice but to move to a colony of only women, that Miranda’s mother, Win, founded years before. At first, it almost seems utopian, but then something is off. Men are not allowed, but babies are born; only girl babies. Miranda becomes more and more disturbed by what is happening, and nothing is as it seems. Before I get into spoilers, let me say, I understand the point the author is trying to make. She doesn’t let you NOT understand it. She hits you over the head with it, several times. Yes, we get it, extremism bad. Men good. Equality, not supremacy. Power corrupts. Yawn.

After spending several years abroad, most recently in Sri Lanka, Dalcher and her husband now split their time between the American South and Andalucia, Spain. Miranda never agreed with her mother’s idea of the world and was living her own life with her husband and daughter away from her mother’s ideal society. However, after losing her husband at the time that the world started breaking down Miranda was left to defend herself and her daughter and decided to take her daughter to Femlandia for protection. I’ve become a huge fan of Christina Dalcher and her thought-provoking dystopian novels. From Vox, where the women of America are silenced, literally, to Master Class, where a child’s “IQ” determines their schooling and every advantage (or disadvantage), and now with Femlandia, where a woman and her daughter move into a women-only colony for safety but instead find more danger than they could imagine.