End of Story by Louise Swanson

From Goodreads

Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing.

It's the year 2035 and fiction has been banned by the government for five years. Writing novels is a crime. Reading fairytales to children is punishable by law.

Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.

But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding? And who can be trusted?

My thoughts

My thanks to the Publishers via NetGalley for a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer ~ I need to say before I review the story that the Dystopian genre is a particular favourite of mine.  There I have said it.  This story is so much more than what you at first expect, you need to read it for yourself to see what I mean.

It's been several weeks since I finished this story, it had such an impact on me that it's taken until now to write my review of it.  I don't think my review will do it the justice that it deserves as I could so easily say so much, but by doing so would spoil it for others.  I would hate to spoil the story for others as it's been a solid 5 star read of mine and will definitely be in my Top 10 of the year.  

Imagine a time in the future where reading fiction is banned, writing fiction is banned and reading stories to your children is banned.  These are punishable offences by the Government if caught!  Well that's the world that Fern Dostoy lives in, she's a criminal she can't help herself doing the things that she enjoys doing.  Hunter is a young child who Fern communicates on her phone with, who is he?  She needs to know more about him as he has stolen a place in her heart.  Fern finds herself on the wrong side of the law and gets sporadic visits from the same government officials.  How can she learn to deal with what has happened to her and keep on the right side of the officials?

I loved loved loved this story.  I was taken into Fern's world, a world that I would hate to live in as I love reading and I read to my children when they were younger.  I would definitely find myself on the wrong side of the law if I lived there.  

Louise Swanson is the pen name of Louise Beech.  I look forward to seeing where Miss Swanson takes us next, as if this book is anything to go by it can only be onto bigger and better places.  Just try not to make me cry next time as I had tears running down my face as I read the last chapter of the story, a little like now as I write this review as the story has stayed with me. 

This story would make a great reading group read in my opinion.