Anna by Sammy H K Smith

I would like to thank Hanna from Rebellion for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for affair and honest review

Publisher – Rebellion

Published – Out Now

Price – £14.99 hardback £7.99 Kindle eBook

Beaten. Branded. Defiant.

Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. Anna does not know her place in the world.

When she falls pregnant, Anna leaves her name behind, and finds the strength to run. But the past - and Will - catch up with her in an idyllic town with a dark secret, and this time, it's not just Anna who is at risk.

A chilling feminist novel set in a near-future dystopia, Anna explores the conflicts between selfhood and expectations, safety and control, and the sacrifices we make for the sake of protection.

What makes a dystopia? We tend to think of political systems be they the controlling state of 1984 or the dismantling go frights for women we saw in the Handmaid’s Tale but dystopias can often be about journeys for a character. The Road is many things but has a father trying to save his son and Wyndham’s apocalypses look at the fall of society. I think it is possible that a dystopia can be less concerned with the systems of the world and exploring instead human nature in Sammy H K Smith’s stark and yet powerful novel Anna we have a dystopian horror that explores sexual abuse from the perspective of the victim who is left in a world which really doesn’t seem to care about anyone anymore.

In a near future the UK has fallen apart after a global war that has destroyed pretty much all trademarks of civilisation – cities are ruined, food is scarce, and millions died in bombings and the brutal aftermath. Our lead character has been traveling and surviving for a couple of years on her own hand to mouth when she is captured by a man known as Will. She is now Will’s property and for him to do anything that he wants. Keen to avoid him getting to know her she calls herself Anna and an abusive cycle of control, violence and sexual abuse starts which Anna has to find a way though.

Anna is a challenging read as it covers a very tough subject – cycles of sexual abuse and their aftermath. Told all the way through from Anna’s perspective we are privy to her struggles, fear and at times her total surrender to Will’s control. These are difficult scenes to read and I think readers need to be clear this will be an often uncomfortable read. But it also works hard not to make rape and sexual abuse not just a plot device for a male character or give it as a mere motivation for Anna to save the world. This is a personal story of how Anna has to find her way through the situation she is in and carry on through the aftermath and the toll on her mental health – this is the survivor’s story. There is no one to help even a local female doctor tells Anna she just had to do what she is told or it will get worse – the sense of isolation is quite chilling.

This book has been getting controversial reviews and I think a big part of that is for many in dystopia we think of the more political tales exploring how the road the world is on can head to disaster. Instead, this novel is less exploring the causes of dystopia but the consequences on those left to live in one. Very quickly women are prone to abuse and being seen as property. We meet through Will’s network others like him and meet other people who have enslaved people into being their property to do with as they like. It’s a stark cruel world where Will who we here has a gentle voice, passive personality and claims that he is kind and loving and yet immediately capable of brutal violence and control to Anna even branding Anna to show the world he is his. Scarily we see he thinks he is a loving saviour. We are made to see how he wants to break Anna down to comply with him – feeling Anna’s mental state deteriorate yet as she fights each day to stay alive a little longer and just possibly find a way out of this make the first part of the book terrifying and it should be noted that everything we see is not a product of future society but one that happens every days to many women across the world and Smith does a very good job of showing the abusers’ tricks to try and make a person their own pet.

The second part of the novel sees Anna now known as Kate in a small seaside settlement rebuilding itself. It seems picturesque in some ways – fishing expeditions, a new architect working how to clean the place up even one of the leaders is being married to his husband. A slight glimpse of normality but Smith here injects some darker tones – Enforcers who patrol to keep everyone safe and who look for more control, anyone found to behave oddly can be shunned and we sense more secrets to be found. Here now and pregnant Kate is trying to rebuild herself but finding the process hard. Her confidence shattered, she cannot stand to be touched and she seeks peace she can never find with a constant reminder of her torment with Will. In some ways this part of the book is the most familiar element of apocalypses the rebuilt settlement that actually is more a gilded cage but the key focus here is how Kate tries to find out who she is and work through her experiences with Will.  A past that in the final and most dramatic and tense finale comes back to haunt her one last time. Pacing here I’d had preferred to be more focused on Anna’s story as the subplots of what goes on here are explored but not quite finished with by the end. You instead want to go back to Anna’s core tale and find out what happens to her.

This felt to me less a dystopian political tale and more a dystopian horror story and as with very good horror we can see the story actually covers social issues. In here the monster is an abusive person and their impact on the woman’s life – it’s delivered starkly and makes us not shy away from what abuse does to someone. There are times I am saying ‘no don’t do that” Just say no’ and then I’m catching myself forgetting that I’ve not had to live through what Anna has just gone through – those experiences will shape a character and explain why they may hide the truth or do something they’re not happy about. By the end I cared not about the world but our lead’s own fate. This is definitely not a book I would recommend to everyone, but I think will be rewarding for those to accept a tale that takes us to dark and uncomfortable places but explores humanity at our worst and also our best when we can overcome and survive.