 Curfew is a distopian novel about a future where women are in power, and men are electronically tagged and have to follow a curfew. This law came about due to the murder of a high profile female by a male, and women had finally had enough of the violence men perpetrated against women, and enough women in positions of power to bring about change.
Curfew follows the story of several women. We have Sarah, a recently divorced mom who is a tagger and under investigation for tasing a man. Cass, Sarah’s daughter, is a rebellious teenager, who sees her mother as overbearing and does anything she can to antagonize Sarah. Helen is Cass’ teacher, and Cass is antagonistic towards her as well. Their paths will also intersect outside of school. Each of these three has their own personal struggles with the men in their lives. Sarah’s ex-husband has recently been released from prison and is trying to come back into her daughter’s life against Sarah’s wishes. Cass has eyes for a young man and is trying to get his attention. And Helen has recently completed cohabitation counseling with her boyfriend and he has moved into her house, but cohabitation is turning out to not be all it was cracked up to be. In spite of the security issues provided to these women by curfew, their paths all intertwine in unexpected ways. Is curfew enough to protect women? Or is something more necessary? Jayne Bowie has written a thought provoking, dark novel about isolation, the dynamic between men and women, and violence against women. The narrator changes with each chapter, and the timeline goes back and forth between present day and a few months earlier. The storyline is clearly laid out and these changes in time and narration were easy to follow. I felt that Curfew wrapped up quickly in the end, and I would have liked a bit more of the novel to focus on the conclusion of the police investigation. Overall, Curfew presented an interesting idea for a dystopian society that was structured to protect women, but in reality, didn’t give them the protections that it was designed to give. If you like futuristic mysteries or dystopian novels, scoop this one up!! On shelves March 23.
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