Age 12 +

This ambitious book is a rare achievement. It is not only an adventure story but also a study of a totalitarian society, which is evidently based on the Soviet Union under Stalin, although it never names either the leader or the regime. It seems, therefore, both historical and futuristic — an exploration of any place with a climate of fear, where there are “disappearances”, where past events are wiped from the record, where ideology distorts the truth, where neighbours and relations sneak on each other, where indiscretions bring visits from the secret police and lost years in labour camps and where ends justify means. Its teenage hero shifts from faith to scepticism, and makes the catastrophic mistake of speaking his mind under stress, thus condemning himself as an enemy of the state. The hardships that follow change him for the worse.

The shocking ending shows how tyranny is born, and that nothing is learnt from brutality except how to be brutal. This book is subtle, stimulating and morally complex, but it is also evocative and convincing: we feel keenly the chill of both soulless hegemony and its frozen wastes.

THE ROAD OF BONES by Anne Fine

(Doubleday £10.99)

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