A Whisper of Horses by Zillah Bethell (review)

In this grim futuristic London, Serendipity lives inside a walled city; the barely literate residents there know little of the past, including the reason for the harsh conditions, and depend on the ministry to keep them safe and fed. After Serendipity’s mother dies, Serendipity escapes the city in an effort to find a symbol of all that used to be: horses. Out in the wider world, things are far different than what is claimed inside the walls: the rain isn’t poison and there are signs of true regeneration. However, the father whom Serendipity has never met is an important man, too important to let his daughter go traipsing off to change the world, and the rulers of the city have a vested interest in keeping the populace believing in the world’s permanent demise. There’s a curious mix of good intentions and power-hungry striving in the government, with even the wealthy poorly educated and largely unskilled, and Bethell does nice work creating well-rounded, flawed characters who are still sympathetic. Horses come up a significant amount as symbols for all sorts of things, but the symbolism works, and Serendipity’s eventual encounter with them is both satisfying and memorable. Dystopian fans who are too young for most of the books on the topic will appreciate this gentler, more accessible look at a society gone awry.