The Carhullan women and their search for true equality
Sarah Hall’s book ‘The Carhullan Army’ won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for young writers last month. It is a dystopian vision of Britain, ravaged by a mysterious war and economically ruined and controlled by a dictatorship known as The Authority. The narrator of the story, known simply as Sister, like all women under state control is compulsorily fitted with a contraceptive device. She attempts to escape the repressive regime by searching for a mythical commune of self-sufficient and formidable ‘unofficial women’ who live on the moors on the remote farm of Carhullan. Sarah joins Jenni to talk about her vision of the ‘Carhullan’ women, their search for true equality and the extent Sarah’s novel was inspired by her wild childhood spent roaming the hills of Cumbria.
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall is published by Faber and Faber, ISBN: 978-0-571-23659-6.
