Latest / Bookies' Favourite / Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden, published by Tangerine Press | Review | Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026

Transcript

Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden, published by Tangerine Press | Review | Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026 · Bookies' Favourite

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Hi, welcome to the club bookies favorite book club.
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We read literary shortest and award-winning novels.
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We're currently reading the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction
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Prize shortlist, an award which recognizes the art of literature
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and promotes works of high merit which have been published in the
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UK and Ireland. This episode we are discussing
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figures crossing the fields towards the Group by Rebecca
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Grandstein, published by Tangerine Press.
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I'm Colin and I'm currently heading to the coast to get the
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boats, I think, or something like that.
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Yes, this book was an interesting read and I'm not
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sure I quite got it understood everything I was going for, but
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yeah, interesting. I'm hoping that we clear up some
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of the the details maybe amongst ourselves when we get a clearer
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picture of what was going on. Hi, I'm Lucy and I'm currently
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in a quarry with no signal and yeah, I've said the same things
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Colin here. I'm excited to to hear more
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about what you guys think and just to try and see if we can
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maybe piece together some level of understanding about the book.
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I'm broadcast journalist Aaron and I am covered in keyboards
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and computer parts. I think I have not finished this
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book typical. And this book is only like what,
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90 something pages long and even I think.
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In your defense, they're fake pages.
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They are BP but I will say the book only starts in like page 15
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so. It's it starts at 9 page.
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Nine, yeah, nine. OK, OK.
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But I think mine is page 9 too but.
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So really it's only about 80 pages long and I don't really
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have an excuse, but I'm about 30 pages in.
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I've been very busy. I'm sorry I have to give this
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book the benefit of the Dart. I haven't finished it.
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I can't comment on everything, only on what I have read so far.
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It's interesting. It's, I'm a little bit confused,
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but I think that might be the point.
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So I'm excited to, to get a little bit more insight and I
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will finish this one. Like I read these first 30 pages
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only today. And so it's, it's definitely
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consumable. To start us off, here's a quote
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from figures crossing the field towards the group.
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There's something spreading up from the far SE maps and
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televisions show it. When the damned screens work,
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humongous red BLOB expanding and fleeting across the land.
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All these damned instruments and computers hanging off me can
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change to heavy screens and I'll crush myself underneath.
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Play the Swedish Symphony. They never say what it is.
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Only to leave, get to the transport, sail away to a land
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off the television map. Spoiler warning from this point
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onwards if you haven't read the book yet and you're planning to
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come back to this discussion after you have done so.
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So figures. Crossing the field towards the
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group is a post apocalyptic story set in England and the
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main character young girl has is missing her twin brother and she
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is trying to look for him. The story is entirely told in
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monosyllables. I'm going to assume is that
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roughly, and then actually further into the story, they
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start even breaking up those monosyllables into kind of like
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where there's like 1/2 syllable, it's broken up.
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So like, field would be FI space eld.
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So like field. So like, the language is so
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strange in it, which makes it a slightly difficult read.
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But yeah. So she meets a lot of figures on
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her way about the place in England searching for her
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brother. What's everyone's thoughts on
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the language? Well, I think it's actually, I
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found it quite interesting at the beginning, the whole like
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bod and, you know, using different shortened versions of
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words. I think that's quite cool.
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And it almost shows like, because in this sort of setting,
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it seems like technology has broken down and communication,
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you know, like between people has broken down.
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And I think this is sort of like everything's been shortened or
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like kind of getting trimmed. I think what you said about the
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the syllables later on, like in the book as they begin to like
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break apart too. I think that's representative of
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flow sort of this whatever this red mist is, it's like, I don't
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know, affecting people, this apocalyptic event.
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It's like she is beginning to be consumed by it too, you know?
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And I think that's that kind of thing, like she's also breaking
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down. So is it maybe like something
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about this red mist has broken all this technology, but also
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has broken like people are breaking apart too slowly as
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well, you know, Does that make sense?
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Yeah, I kind of was like, because a lot of the time when
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they speak to each other, they maybe do use a different
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vocabulary. And then her inner monologue,
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well, I'm assuming the book is her kind of inner monologue is
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then a bit further down the kind of like, because when I don't
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know, maybe I'm just thinking because there's definitely a guy
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she speaks to at one point and he's the one that's in the
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quarry. And it's like he speaks normal
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sentences, you know, like normal conversation stuff.
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And it's kind of like, well, he's, he's in this area.
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That's not, it seems to not be affected.
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And then there's the whole like, hum thing, which was confusing
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me. So like there's a used to be
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travelling across wires. It's, it's also because it's all
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told. So this is maybe a sticking
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point for me. Is it that this is like the very
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near future and like technology has affected people's speech and
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everything's crumbled because of this and this, this red thing
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coming from the South and they're all intertwined and
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they've caused this really quick breakdown in like, language and
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things like that. Or is it that we're leaping way
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into the future and going that language has changed in the
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future and then this catastrophe has a has happened?
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Actually, I've proved my own theory false because she has
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that, you know, the weird guy that's in a classroom, She has
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his writings and they're all pretty normally written, I'm
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pretty sure. And then obviously he's not
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normal. He's like, how to explain him?
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But before we go any further and just while you've brought up
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this man in the classroom, why does she give him like a sexual
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favours? Yeah, yeah.
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I can't. Answer that.
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Your guess as good as as good as fine but.
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Yeah, but but it also seems like he is completely.
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He's dying and he's completely blind and deaf, but he's like
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monologuing about how his wife left him.
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OK. She reads something he's
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written. Oh.
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It might be, it might be I I assumed he was talking, but you,
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you might be completely right. So then it seems to me like it's
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only women who have left is Or am I completely wrong?
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Like why would this man not leave with his wife?
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No. No, you're you're wrong.
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And there's there's a woman near the start.
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There, there is a woman, but I'm not.
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Saying a. Woman has left.
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I'm just saying that it seems like like why would this man not
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have left with his wife if his wife was like.
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Does that be kind of confusing? Because I, I thought in the, the
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things that he had written, it almost seemed like he had some
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weird, I got a weird religious sense from him, like he was
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right. So wait, wait, wait.
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Let's go back to what is he called?
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What's his chapter? He's not a tent man.
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No, he's the the. Lust from this fronts, whatever
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that word is, yeah. Because he's obviously in some
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kind of weird state. Yeah, so he says.
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My darling wife left today, this day of subsidiance, where she
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shot my memory into filth. The children removed themselves
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after we had gathered them all together to participate in our
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Salvationist charade. I hope they never forgive us.
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So he's obviously done something morally wrong with children.
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I would like, I don't mean that in a, in that way, but I mean
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like a in a they were trying to do something.
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I got the kind of the Salvationist charade as to be
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something written maybe with a religious context in and
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especially in this apocalyptic sense.
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So I don't know what was happening there.
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So just he said that he made eye contact with somebody who was
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exposed to the mist or whatever it was.
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And by making direct eye contact that has now caused him to start
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to become blinded. So it seems like this stuff is
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like contagious maybe? Yeah, I I don't know how to read
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that because sometimes it does seem like it is and then other
9:17
times it doesn't. So I don't.
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I think there's something in this book where it's tough to
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know what stuff is like hyperbole and is not hyperbole,
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like what stuff is like vivid imagining and because it's kind
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of a delirium seems to be about people.
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So I don't know that we can take anything anyone says or even
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that what that girl says as like face value.
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I find it quite difficult when reading the kind of prose from
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her where it was like she would talk a lot about fire and you
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would kind of get the idea of if you were reading a normal book,
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you'd be like, oh, she's just she's kind of it's a metaphor.
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She's acquitting the there can't be an actual fire.
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I think the problem with this book is that we have no idea
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everywhere around her could be on fire or nothing could be on
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fire. And it's just a, that's just an
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example of that. That seems to be throughout the
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book where you're kind of like, am I reading a description of
10:12
this place in a in a flurry way, or am I reading a literal
10:17
description of this place? And I think that that's true
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with the characters as well. It's like, are they reflecting
10:22
what's actually happening, or are they reflecting A delirious
10:27
idea of what's happening? Yeah, I think, yeah, the writing
10:32
style kind of is it's it's like toeing the line between like if
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this was clearly laid out and, you know, very this is what
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happens, is what everything looks like.
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I think we would have understood this book a lot easier.
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But I think this is maybe the problem with this.
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It's it in an attempt for the pros to be sort of open-ended,
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the entire concept of this apocalypse and whatever this red
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stuff is and how it's affecting people is still so open-ended
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that we really are guessing here.
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Like, I don't think any of us has a definitive even to
11:02
ourselves, like idea of what this is.
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And I, and I don't know if that's like sometimes that can
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be done in a way to like allow the reader to to come up with
11:13
their own theories and interpret it.
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Yeah. But I think in this case, it's
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maybe. Well, at least for me, I don't
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think it's, I think it's on the opposite in that it's kind of
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alienated everyone from having some sense of what this is, you
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know? I wouldn't because I haven't
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completed it. I would say that I wouldn't be
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as direct with what you're saying because like I can't
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fully agree with you. If I complete this book and I
11:43
have a complete understanding or, or I have attributed my own
11:50
thoughts to it and kind of made it make a little bit more sense
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or, or it connected with me, then I might have a different
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thought than you. But I understand what you're
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saying that because it's not very definitive with a lot of
12:06
what it's doing, it can be difficult to piece together and
12:14
there even the apocalypse itself, like what the outcomes
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or the fallout or or the implications.
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I don't really understand because it seems like people are
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becoming sick and but it also seems like technology is being
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affected because this man talks about drones being sent in and
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to the the red clouds or whatever.
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And he said that it seems like something within the Reds had to
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take a little bit of time to figure out what the drones were
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doing to then disable them because some drones were coming
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back fine and some were losing a little bit of stuff.
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So is is the mist like almost the God intelligence itself?
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I think there's a lot of reason to believe that that is the
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case. And I think as well, it talks
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about like kind of they lose control of where the drone's
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going. And it it seems to well, the
13:17
person controlling the drone seems to think that the the red
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wants to show it certain things, you know, like it has a mind of
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its own and it's controlling the drone to not to to take it like
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not to remove the drone from the area, but to show the person
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something else. Throughout the entire thing, at
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first it was like it's just some sort of disease.
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But I actually think what I kind of came down on it being was
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something more like an artificial intelligence of some
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sort because it goes through the wires and it seems like it's
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controlling, like mentally controlling people.
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And we don't know is this far in the future or people have like
13:48
components in their bodies or more attached to technology than
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we are now. And it's like, This is why
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people are kind of losing it because this stuff, maybe the AI
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itself has gone like, it's sick too.
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And whatever the sickness is is spreading through the technology
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and stuff. But like, I don't know.
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I think, yeah, it's that very clear if it is, if it is
14:07
something technological or if it is something like biological.
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Something interesting I found about the way we kind of don't
14:15
know or anything. It almost seems like, you know,
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like there's different various like films or books or things
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and they're about the apocalypse and they have like, well, we'll
14:24
we'll fix on like a again. What is that one recent ish
14:28
with? It's like all the spores.
14:30
It was a. The Last of Us.
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Yeah, it's like The Last of Us. I feel like there's elements of
14:37
that in in this story. There's elements of like loads
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of of other random. It's almost like she's thrown
14:43
every everything we think of as a post apocalyptic onto a wall.
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Like there's, there's definite like just I mean, I, I wouldn't
14:53
say I consume that kind of media or books that often, but it
14:55
seems like there was a lot of the stuff is, is things that I
14:58
would associate with that. And I find a point at times I
15:02
find it really interesting. Like I do wish, not that it'd
15:05
have been longer with the same style, but maybe that we'd have
15:08
had it interspersed with. Because something we haven't
15:12
really mentioned so far is that there is this bit section in the
15:15
middle of the book where it's just, it stops being the main
15:19
character. The main character's name is
15:20
Flo, by the way. I don't think we've heard that
15:21
yet. But it stops being from Flo's
15:23
perspective and it starts being from Observer 35's perspective
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and Observer 35. It kind of reminded me of what's
15:31
that one we read. Under the Isle of Big Bird.
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Yeah, I was thinking that. I was just reading it.
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Yeah, all of a sudden it became like that.
15:39
And it was like these two children are being, they're
15:44
being like monitored by this absurd multiple observers, it
15:47
seems. And we're getting the log of
15:49
Observer 35. And I kind of was like, there is
15:52
nothing I find in the text to say that this is Flo and her
15:55
brother, but I was assuming that the relevance would be that it
15:58
was these three. But they're recording each other
16:01
like obviously like doing different like shootouts and
16:05
like climbing cliffs and like doing all these different
16:08
things. And it's kind of like, yeah, but
16:11
what? Was the point like you're you
16:14
raised like, yeah, it's so interesting because you assume
16:16
it's these two characters, but I'm not.
16:18
I was reading, I was like waiting for the penny to drop.
16:20
And I was like, oh, here we go. Here's some lore into like,
16:23
what? I like, a shame, you know, I
16:24
don't know, you know, something like this.
16:26
And then just nothing happens and you're like, OK, so why do
16:28
we randomly have this observer just giving us the detail and
16:32
then they leave this house or whatever, wherever they're being
16:34
kept and that's it. And it's.
16:35
Kind of like this is a code red, they've left the house.
16:38
It's like you don't know what the relevance of that at all.
16:40
It kind of, I suppose maybe like gives a bit of the credence to
16:43
the fact that it could be like AI kind of like.
16:47
Monitored. People are being like and this
16:49
seems like it possibly would have been pre post apocalypse.
16:56
So pre apocalypse I think actually would have worked
16:58
better. But yeah, so like it kind of.
17:05
Give me the feeling of like both under the eye of the big bird,
17:10
but I think under the eye of the big bird is still more concrete
17:12
and that you can understand what's going on a bit clearer.
17:14
But also it really reminded me of I who have never known men
17:19
and the kind of voice of it was sort of similar and like it's
17:23
not really so much about what's happening to the like the
17:26
characters in it are just pieces on in the sort of like
17:30
exploration of this. They're not really characters,
17:32
you know, And I kind of felt like that, although I think I
17:35
who have never known men was just maybe tighter in how it
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kind of went about things as well.
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I think the. Writing and I've never known men
17:42
was much much. I don't want to say much better
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because I think she's trying to do something quite like, well,
17:49
not basic, but like the clear. Yeah, it's quite.
17:53
Stripped back in, I have never known men, but this is like
17:56
stripped back to a ridiculous extent in figures.
18:00
It's like, what? But yeah, I get what you mean, I
18:04
think. Yeah, under the I don't even
18:07
know what this book reminds me of.
18:13
Well, it's. Also just from what you're
18:15
saying, because I haven't got to that observer part, but is it
18:18
almost like Big Brother ish of like 1984 sort of?
18:23
But it's never like it's just observed.
18:25
It's not really like interfering or controlling, it's sort of
18:29
just. And at one point it's like
18:31
observer 35 is going through their log and then they're like
18:34
observer 28 goes up closer to like look in the house.
18:38
So it's like there's loads of seems like there's a lot of
18:40
observers and it seems like there's loads of transcripts.
18:43
So they're being recorded in their home.
18:44
So maybe something quite Big Brother E.
18:46
So they're like refer like it's because it's just observer 35
18:50
point of view. It's like keeps going like C
18:53
figure or whatever, or C transcript of the conversation
18:57
that the children are having. It's like child P and child Q
19:00
and yeah, you kind of get the idea that I'm one.
19:04
I think it's child, kid, kid. It's not child kid Q is like
19:10
more in control of everything and which is kind of like, and I
19:15
only thought about it now, but I was like, that's actually
19:17
further down the alphabet. So we're maybe assuming that
19:20
that's the younger twin, but I can't remember if I we know, but
19:24
I think we're. Both sort of just grabbing out
19:26
evidence and being like, I think this is it, do you think?
19:29
This was a fun concept. Do you think this is something
19:34
that's exciting that like specifically the fact that this
19:38
was written, the fact that this was published by a small press,
19:41
do you think a larger press would have like published
19:48
something like this? Or do you think like, is it, is
19:51
this one of the experimental things that maybe a small price
19:59
can jump? Into and can.
20:02
Not risk, because I'm not saying that this is a risky piece of of
20:06
literature, but just in terms of the fact that it is unique in
20:12
it's the way that it's told. Yeah, I think, I mean, I think
20:18
concept wise it's a bit nebulous to be honest, for me to to sort
20:22
of be like, oh, I really like this concept.
20:24
I think this idea and like exploring apocalyptic stuff in
20:28
like a different lens is quite interesting.
20:30
And like, I mean, obviously we can assume that Rebecca Grands
20:36
Grands then has like a has a view herself on what she's
20:39
trying to convey, you know, but I just think it's so nebulous in
20:42
a way that I, I don't, I don't really have a grasp.
20:45
And I think that then undercuts my enjoyment of the book as a
20:48
whole because I kind of want to understand it in some way.
20:50
You know, like we've read other books that have been like we,
20:53
you know, it's a bit more up to interpretation, but at least we
20:57
can form our own overall opinion on it in view of what?
21:01
But but I think this is I'm, I'm yearning for that.
21:05
I'm looking for something to tie together and I'm not getting it
21:08
I suppose. Like I would I my big criticism
21:11
of under the eye of the Big Bird.
21:13
Was it spelled like too much, especially in the last two
21:16
chapters? It was like you've kind of just
21:18
wrecked the earlier chapters because you've spelled just
21:21
you've just told exactly what we've kind of already come to
21:23
the same right conclusion. I think if it had like locked
21:26
off the last chapters, it was like you would have come to the
21:28
conclusion of the last chapters through your own reading.
21:32
But I think that this is like the exact opposite.
21:34
And as you're saying, Colin, it's like, it's I don't, I don't
21:39
know that I have like, I like when a book is open-ended
21:44
because you can't put your own theories.
21:45
And usually I have like, it's like the audition.
21:49
It's like it's completely open-ended, but it's like, I'll
21:53
put my own thing in and I'll think that's made sense to me.
21:56
And I really liked what happened there.
21:58
But then this is like, I don't really have anything to put
22:01
there. And maybe that's my flaw as a
22:03
reader, but I really didn't struggle to be like, I have this
22:08
clear idea or, oh, that makes sense, or that fits with this or
22:11
this that fits. I was kind of waiting for the
22:12
penny to drop. I think you said that earlier,
22:14
Colin, the penny should have dropped here.
22:16
Where is that penny? Dropped that penny already a
22:19
million. Miles above the earth Can I?
22:23
Can I? Just argue for Rebecca
22:25
Grandstand, the author and with Colin, what you're saying that
22:29
that you had kind of said well, she probably understands what
22:33
she was trying to do here. It just didn't necessarily
22:35
translate to the reader. But from our discussion and from
22:40
what I have read, I kind of get the impression that she's
22:47
feeding into or leaning into the confusion that comes at the
22:56
start of this kind of massive event and fallout.
23:02
And the fact that it seems like technology and broadcasts have
23:06
been impacted and aren't reliable, that it adds to the
23:13
confusion if we even think. I don't know when this book was
23:17
written or when the idea was conceived.
23:19
But even if you think back to COVID, which is the closest that
23:23
we have come to an apocalyptic event, though at this like even
23:30
now, we still don't know for sure how that started.
23:34
Like there's only ideas and concepts, but there's no 100%
23:40
concrete evidence of how it started.
23:43
So same with this, like maybe people just don't know how it
23:48
started. And this is we're assuming it's
23:49
still the early days. And on top of all that, then you
23:55
have the confusion of I'm sure there's so many people out there
23:59
just lay people that don't understand the bureaucracy of
24:04
these things and the people who didn't have to investigate and
24:09
all the different organizations that have to work around and
24:13
come together to either put an end to this or something.
24:17
And it could that be who the observers are?
24:19
And it's, it's meant to put the reader into a position of I
24:23
don't really understand what's happening.
24:25
This is all above my head. This is confusing, but we are
24:31
then put into the position of the people living in this world
24:34
where they're like, I really don't understand what's
24:37
happening. Everything's falling apart and
24:40
I'm just trying to survive. I just want to.
24:42
Defend Colin here then For a second though, just just a note
24:48
on the observers. I'm pretty sure the observers
24:49
are pre post apocalypse and OK. OK, but.
24:54
I, I don't think that the reason that like enjoyment maybe wasn't
25:00
100% on this book was because we didn't know.
25:03
I think that like, yeah, I get what you're saying.
25:05
Like obviously if there's like a situation like this, you are
25:07
going to be completely like, have no clue whatsoever.
25:10
But it is still like a book. You have to like, you have to
25:15
get something from it. And I, I, I feel like I
25:18
understand. Like there were bits and pieces
25:20
that I found really, really good.
25:22
But then I did think that the whole thing together was like a
25:26
struggle for me. And I don't think that's because
25:29
I didn't particularly know what was going on.
25:31
I think it was possibly the way the the the wording of the book
25:37
was. And then also the fact that it
25:40
didn't really come together in any sort of way.
25:42
And I felt like, I don't know if you call in in the last chapter,
25:47
I kind of was like, oh, this is kind of going to or the last.
25:50
Yeah, the last chapter I was kind of like, this is going to
25:53
come together a bit more. And she does.
25:55
Sorry, Aaron for spoilers here. But she does get to the to the
26:01
the coast and everyone is acting absolutely wildly.
26:05
But something that I I was kind of like there's and this is
26:08
where I kind of like, am I just everything is going completely
26:11
over my head. But there's something that's
26:13
introduced as being called the Bay cock, like Bay.
26:17
OK. And I was like this because
26:20
there's so many parts of this, like, book where it's like, you
26:23
actually don't really realize what she's referring to.
26:24
And then she refers to it enough.
26:26
It's like instead of like a building or just they build
26:29
instead of like people just instead of like, there's loads
26:32
of variations of this. And I was like, there must be
26:34
something that if you just say it in a certain way, we'll be
26:38
able to work out what this is. I had no idea what it was.
26:42
Did you have any clue? But I think big cock is
26:46
seemingly some sort of being, but also like a force at the
26:52
same time. And I don't understand.
26:53
And I This is why I think like my my reading of it is something
26:57
artificial intelligence, because I think at this point she is
27:01
collapsing into it like whatever it is, it's in her brain and
27:04
whatever the other characters are seeing and like what had
27:07
made them cook like crazed or whatever I think is this
27:10
whatever this big cock is. And I think maybe she only
27:13
begins to see whatever this is as it, you know, her brain
27:17
begins like it's it's in her brain because she keeps seeing
27:20
it, I think walk across the land and stuff and she hears noises
27:24
coming from it. And to me, that's like the
27:26
technology like, or something. Yeah.
27:30
I don't know. It's it's confusing.
27:33
I feel like it does. Have big eyes, which I'm kind of
27:36
annoyed thinking with what Aaron was saying about the start of
27:38
the book and the the guy in the school, the classroom, him
27:43
saying this big guy. Maybe there is something to
27:45
that. But I kind of was like, is it a
27:47
Peacock? And I'm just not pronouncing
27:49
this. You like, you know the Peacock.
27:52
Yeah, like. Like I was kind of.
27:54
It's an English way of pronouncing Peacock.
27:56
I've just looked up what. Peacock is and it is actually
27:59
mythological and it's a malevolent undead creature or
28:02
spirit from Ojibwa mythology and it's a Native American
28:08
equivalent of the Norse dragger. And dragger.
28:10
I, I don't know this, but I know dragger are like spirits, you
28:14
know, they're they're icy sort of corpses of undead, like
28:17
zombies of people who I believe, I feel to get into Valhalla.
28:21
So maybe that's what it is. Do you know, maybe this is like
28:25
the being that's been causing all of this stuff?
28:28
And This is why I think she begins to like to be consumed.
28:31
Like she, she is degrading, if you know what I mean.
28:33
As the story goes on and she gets whatever this red mist is,
28:35
she breathes it in or she's around people who are infected
28:38
by it. And then she begins to see this
28:40
being. So maybe the being isn't
28:41
actually there, but like maybe it's in her brain, you know,
28:45
like maybe it's something to do with like her consciousness and
28:48
like interlink with technology. I don't know.
28:51
I don't really have a definitive answer.
28:55
Did you guys have like? A favorite kind of character
28:57
that she meets because I thought some of them were quite funny.
29:00
I really like the Royalist woman, yes.
29:03
The so from my understanding, she of of like lived in some
29:09
maybe stables or, or like somewhere that the Royals will
29:13
like go to in the countryside and didn't she said that like
29:18
her the building was ransacked by people who like broke the
29:23
like fine China and stuff, and she's keeping the the place
29:28
together in case the Royals come here.
29:31
Well, I thought. She'd put, I don't know if I
29:32
read this completely wrong, but I thought she'd put all the
29:35
broken crockery with like the Queen's kind of split face and
29:38
put it all around the building as like a protective barrier
29:41
because she thought the Royals were going to protect her in
29:44
some way. Actually, something to note,
29:46
which I was when I was reading it, was the fact that she did
29:48
say the Queen and the king before him and I was like, does
29:53
that put us like squarely in pre?
29:58
Elizabeth, Yeah. Charles Times.
30:01
Yeah. But.
30:03
Yeah, because it's like, yeah. So she's she's really.
30:06
And she talks about the monarchy like, as if they are like this
30:10
kind of protective. I.
30:13
Enjoyed that part. I also like the guy in the
30:16
quarry. Also, this is another thing
30:18
which I don't understand. So the quarry I don't.
30:20
I actually don't even know if he was in a quarry if I just made
30:23
that up, but he has a satellite dish on the top of his head on
30:25
top of his head on top. Of that satellite.
30:28
Dish and he basically doesn't get any of the hum and he
30:32
doesn't get anything there, but he takes the girl in for a
30:36
night, right? And he's on anything and he
30:38
hasn't gone outside but he shows her this screen and it's like, I
30:43
don't know how he's got it but it's he's like one of my screen
30:46
shows this, which makes you think that he has no control
30:48
over what his screen show. And it's like a bedroom.
30:51
And basically he says that things in the bedroom change
30:56
about. So he is never, it's a live feed
30:59
from what he kind of describes, but he never sees a person
31:02
there. He never sees anyone change
31:04
anything about. It's always like when he looks
31:06
away and then looks back and he tries to keep himself up for
31:09
like 3 days and nothing in the room changes and then all of a
31:13
sudden it's like he goes back and there's like something
31:16
random there, like when he's like passed out.
31:18
But yeah, I was kind of like quite like what's like what's
31:24
going on there? Like what can we?
31:25
Yeah, but what? Can we link this?
31:26
To see. This is not.
31:30
Is this the one that's sterilization room?
31:32
So we know that some sort of like, I don't know what take
31:36
from that what you will sterilization.
31:38
But he believes, isn't he? He's like, oh, it I don't think
31:42
the screen's actually working. Can you look and tell me that it
31:45
is because like he thinks he's gone.
31:47
He's he's lost it, you know, and then she like confirms it or
31:50
whatever. But again, we don't get any any.
31:53
There's nothing more from that. Like what's sterilization have
31:56
to do with anything else in the story?
31:57
Is it to do with the observing? Again, like this is someone
32:00
observing. I kind of took it as the fact
32:03
that he was I, I, I think this is a tenuous link, but I took
32:07
the sterilization as like he was almost in his own kind of
32:11
quarantined area that he didn't have any of the.
32:16
He obviously isn't scared to bring her in even though she's
32:19
been out there in the world but. He's.
32:21
Still very much like I'm not going out there.
32:23
I know I'm safe here, which makes you think that he has some
32:28
kind of knowledge to know that whatever situation he's in, he
32:32
can never be affected by it, even if it moves up.
32:35
Or at least he has the theory of that.
32:37
And it seems like he's not affected by the the weird hum.
32:40
And also another thing to point out that there's like this weird
32:42
religiony kind of thing going on with people in white coats,
32:46
right? Who?
32:46
Sorry? That.
32:48
Are called the murmurs and. They're and it seems.
32:53
That to me, I don't know how you guys read it, but that to me was
32:55
very like, is there's this weird humming that's coming from the
32:59
South and then these people who are become religious are like,
33:02
well, this is our new God now. Murmuring in the same.
33:06
Frequency or something in the church when she goes to the
33:10
church. And I was kind of like, what's
33:13
going on here? I was like, that was the only
33:16
thing my head could make a connection with because I was
33:19
like, I don't understand anything about these people.
33:22
But the fact. That they're just humming and as
33:24
and then they mention the hum to the South like other characters
33:27
have. So I was like, are they just
33:29
this is our newfound religion? And I have a question for the
33:34
two of you about it seems like there's, I interpreted this as
33:40
groups of like vigilantes going around and the tearjerkers and
33:48
the organ, somethings the organ. Grinder.
33:51
So I meant I wrote that down on my notes.
33:54
Never did I see them appear again.
33:56
Never did I even be like, oh, those are people like you.
34:01
This is something that I feel like if, Aaron, if you'd read
34:04
it, you probably would have come back just going, well, this
34:06
person cried on page 67. And I feel like you would know
34:09
this, but this is not a link I made ever again to anything.
34:13
Well, OK. So I think the organ walkers are
34:16
mentioned twice if I remember correctly and and it seems like
34:22
she has to avoid the roads, she has to avoid pathways and
34:26
because that's where the tearjerkers and the organ
34:29
walkers are. Now I just googled an Audi boy
34:33
mythology and red clouds and it's actually interesting.
34:38
So for well, first of all, I was looking up this bacock that you
34:43
had mentioned and it apparently has a hunger for human livers.
34:48
So is that an organ Walker? I looked up Red Clouds and it
34:54
says that in the it's a spirit world.
34:58
Clouds in general are a barrier between earth and the spirit
35:02
world. It's a warning sign and the
35:05
colour red is the colour of the South.
35:09
There's also the legend of Miss Quona Quebe, which is also known
35:15
as Red Cloud. I look.
35:18
I think the fact that we're trying to piece this together
35:20
just shows if we're maybe lacking some puzzle pieces in
35:25
this entire thing, what I was. What I was thinking though was
35:28
like if she's called this thing a Bake Off, right?
35:32
I'm wondering if like because it's used in mythology and a lot
35:35
of times like games and things will have like mythology and
35:38
stuff in them. I'm wondering maybe she's given
35:40
it this name because it looks like a game she's played.
35:44
Yeah, she's like it. She that's what's how she
35:47
understands it, even if it's not it.
35:49
Almost like in Stranger. Things how they call things like
35:51
DND characters like Vecna and Demogorgon even though that's
35:55
not what it actually is because like.
35:57
I'm just looking up at the moment to get pictures of it and
36:00
they all seem to come from like not gaming things but like kind
36:03
of things like that that seem kind of DND ish.
36:08
What's Pathfinder? I'm just going to become that's.
36:11
That's like another RPG. OK.
36:13
So yeah. It's coming up there a lot.
36:15
So like I'm kind of like maybe if she's like played a game with
36:18
something on it, like I don't know, or she happens to have a
36:23
game like say if it was in Warhammer, I don't think it is
36:25
in Warhammer, but like say if it was and that happened to be toy
36:27
she had like maybe getting that kind of vibe.
36:32
I think that's actually. An interesting concept.
36:34
I like the fact that you are building out this character,
36:38
which I think is completely justifiable by saying like maybe
36:43
this girl is a gamer and that also might then contribute to
36:49
the fact that she is solo out here in search of her brother.
36:54
And does she ever find her brother?
36:57
No. No.
37:00
What did you think happened to the end?
37:02
I think it's that she is consumed by this and like she
37:05
ends up like she doesn't find him and and she loses herself as
37:09
well. I kind of.
37:11
Like, I'm going to be really like not grim about this because
37:14
I usually am quite grim when I come up with my own theories.
37:16
But I'm like, do you know what? It might be like a like a
37:20
global, like not a global like a hysteria or like a delirium
37:23
because the the kind of other title of the book is an England
37:28
in delirium. And so I was kind of like, if it
37:31
is something like that, she could have just been rescued by
37:34
a helicopter, but not really understanding what's going on.
37:37
That's how I charitably. Yeah, I think I'm not right.
37:40
I think Colin, you're closer to the actual.
37:43
Well, I think it's a. Is she is she driven to like
37:46
madness because something about the last part Gimme the white
37:49
clips of Dover and because she keeps so much chalk and she's on
37:52
like the edge and I for I I'm like does she throw herself
37:56
because from it because the 1st chapter opens with like yeah,
38:03
she's. Sitting on the edge looking for
38:05
her twin brother, who I think it's almost insinuated that he
38:09
has jumped off. Yeah.
38:10
So I'm like. Is it that she has found him?
38:12
In a way maybe, but it's through the death or whatever is forced.
38:17
You know, like control their brains or something.
38:20
Might require second. Rate to be concerned, well, you
38:24
know. Actually, I'm excited to finish
38:26
this book now that I have heard you to kind of share your
38:33
thoughts on it because I think that might help me understand
38:36
and have my brain a little bit more like exercised going into
38:41
it. I think you'll.
38:42
Maybe have to be in a better position because I was thinking
38:44
it'd be a bit in a better position to read it again
38:46
because you you maybe would under like I would understand
38:49
more. But yeah, having an idea of
38:50
like, these are the things like the thing Colin and I don't
38:54
understand. It's like you'll probably be
38:55
thinking about them as you read. Whereas we were probably
38:58
definitely not thinking about them because they seem to come
39:00
as like twists and to not twists, but like it was kind of
39:03
like, oh, it's going there. Oh, it's going there.
39:05
And you don't have time to be like, I'm going to tie together
39:07
all these strings. This, this to me seems like a 7
39:11
read book where it's like you probably don't understand
39:14
anything. You have to read it through with
39:16
one line of thinking and you just completely ignore
39:19
everything else. Why do we think this book made
39:23
it to the shortlist compared to the other books that we've read
39:26
so far? And like, I think we all
39:29
decently Colin, I know you weren't as big of a fan, but you
39:32
still give it four stars and and so did Lucy and Hannah.
39:36
I gave it five stars on the Greenwich line and that didn't
39:40
make it to the shortlist. Why do we think this book made
39:44
it to the shortlist and that book didn't one thing I would.
39:47
Notice a lot of those ones that didn't make it to the the
39:50
shortlist. So like on the on the Greenwich
39:53
line, the weasel and small boat had already had a claim in other
39:57
ways. So Pyrenees quite a bit like
40:00
it's a big enough small press and small boat has had a lot of
40:08
like it had the international and it had BBC did things on it.
40:11
So it's like it's got a lot of. I suppose the the.
40:16
Of the Queen Mary is. To get these small presses out.
40:19
So they've kind of had their their awards like, yeah, the
40:22
weasel, I think all of them got the pen award.
40:24
Like they've kind of had a bit of a chance of maybe the reason
40:29
that a lot of these other ones are is because they are smaller,
40:32
smaller presses and they're getting knocked and this is a
40:36
risk this book, I think. And I think it's trying to do
40:38
something and it's like, maybe I'm not the person that got
40:42
that, but it is like I think it is is in the ethos of the Queen
40:46
Mary. Like I think it definitely
40:48
deserves a place in the shortlist.
40:49
It's whether or not I think it's the best book in the world.
40:52
I think other people definitely would enjoy it, I think.
40:56
Maybe this is open to our our reader's taste, that kind of
41:00
thing. I very much prefer very concrete
41:04
things with like like more abstract ideas, Sherbert
41:08
concrete basis to kind of work around with characters that I
41:11
can connect with and like a setting I can understand.
41:14
And I think, you know, this kind of book, this very abstract,
41:18
figure it out as you go, make up your own interpretation is like
41:21
a lot of people love this and like seemingly this book has
41:23
gotten a lot of like praise for that.
41:25
Like if you go to the Goodreads or any of those sort of review
41:28
like compilers or whatever, you can see like it's it's doing
41:32
well for itself. So I think clearly it's hit
41:36
other people in a different way maybe than than it has hit like
41:39
me personally or us generally. But I don't know, I think maybe
41:44
some the the judges found something in this that they
41:47
connected with and could could see a through line that that
41:50
really, yeah, that they really enjoyed.
41:52
I. Think of everything that we have
41:55
read and discussed on this podcast and out of all the
41:58
literary awards that this is something completely different
42:01
and to its own acclaim. I think from speaking with those
42:09
involved with the award, with the prize that they try and
42:17
select books that come from publishers, small presses that
42:23
have tried to do something different.
42:26
And they they look past maybe the the issues like, and, and
42:34
they look at the core concept and, and they look at well, how
42:38
risky was this? How different is this?
42:42
What are they trying to go for that whether or not it succeeds?
42:48
The fact that they actually attempted and and went out there
42:51
and. Put their.
42:54
Resources behind something like this It I I'm not surprised that
42:59
this book has made it to the shortlist and I think it also
43:05
might be a good book for book clubs.
43:09
The fact that I haven't even completed it and I've been
43:12
engaged in this conversation with the two of you and the fact
43:16
that it seems like none of us necessarily love it but I don't
43:20
think any of us hate it at the same time, it's just one of
43:23
those books that leads to a good discussion because it.
43:26
It basically is all up to interpretation.
43:29
Yeah, I think you're. You're right about that.
43:31
I think it's I've actually enjoyed the conversation and I
43:36
think I'll be interested if you finish it.
43:41
And I am saying if no offense aren't, but I will be because I
43:47
think you're like people see things differently and people
43:50
have different interpretations coming into it.
43:52
And I I think that you're one of those kind of people that sees
43:55
things that I would definitely not see and things.
43:57
So I'd be really interested in. I think, yeah, as you say, it is
44:00
kind of a a good book club book because I think it's really
44:04
tough, but I think you could have really engaging
44:07
conversations about it. Well, we'll have.
44:09
A wrap up episode before the winner is announced, kind of
44:13
debriefing with each other and trying to predict the winner.
44:18
We still have another couple of episodes to come out on some of
44:23
the books that are on the shortlist, which are Spit and
44:26
Ghost Driver. So looking forward to those
44:28
discussions as well. So now let's give this.
44:31
Book a rating out of five stars. So I'm thinking, and all this is
44:36
to say, I just don't know if this book is for me.
44:40
I'm glad that other people have been enjoying it.
44:42
I think I would give this a two out of five, mostly because I
44:45
think the writing, it was just too ambiguous for me.
44:47
I kind of was lost. I didn't have enough to go off
44:50
of it. And it doesn't need to be all
44:52
completely spelled out, But in this case, I was lacking pretty
44:55
much anything to kind of draw me through it.
44:58
I found it quite a quick read, but mostly because the the
45:01
nothing happened in it in a way that was like easy enough to
45:04
follow. This one's really mean, very,
45:08
very cold hearted. But I just, I found very little
45:11
in this that would like that would interest me.
45:14
And I think I'm going to forget this book very, very quickly
45:17
after we finish this discussion. I don't really see this as
45:21
winning this prize, mostly because I think it is so
45:23
ambiguous. There's nothing I think for most
45:25
people to grab, grab on to. And when I compare it to the
45:29
other ones that we've read, I'm like the others just feel like
45:31
they've got more to them, you know?
45:35
I'm thinking I probably would give it a three.
45:41
I think the reason I've because I definitely enjoyed parts of
45:45
it, but I think like kind of Colin says it like a lot of the
45:48
descriptive parts, I find myself not fully and maybe this is just
45:52
the language of it not fully understanding.
45:53
So I think I missed a lot of stuff and what what stuff I did
45:57
understand, I did enjoy, but I don't know if I necessarily knew
46:00
the relevance of it and struggled to to give it meaning
46:06
and depth because of that. So I think the bits that I
46:10
really enjoyed are kind of stark among a lot of, and I actually
46:14
have to say the opposite con. I found everything along like a
46:17
difficult route. It didn't, it was not a quick
46:20
read for me. So but it did.
46:22
I do think there's a lot of merits to it.
46:26
Yeah. So I would give it a three.
46:28
I think it'll be a risky choice. Not that I think that maybe
46:32
after a couple of reads there's not maybe more than what we've
46:36
kind of discussed here today. But like, I think it'd be a risk
46:40
because I think it is, as we've all kind of discussed, it's not
46:43
a simple book. It's not a like easy to grasp
46:48
everything kind of book. And I think that that that could
46:50
alienate people. So I reckon they won't put this
46:52
down. But I'm it's a bold choice put
46:54
in the short list and it would be a really bold choice for it
46:57
to win. And it's not something that I
46:58
would necessarily be unhappy about, but I would be surprised
47:02
I'm going to. Abstain from giving it a score
47:05
because I haven't finished it yet and but whenever we have our
47:08
debrief, that's whenever I can kind of follow up and let let
47:12
you know what my final scoring is for it.
47:16
So for the. Final two books we're going to
47:18
be reading from the Queen Mary's shortlist.
47:20
We have Spit and Ghost Driver. Check out our social media for
47:24
our full reading schedule. We're reading two books more
47:27
before the winner is announced. Read along and.
47:29
Share your thoughts on Instagram at Bookie's Favorite book Club
47:31
and you can also e-mail us at bookiesfavoritebookclub@gmail.com.
47:35
Remember that there is a you in favor also.
47:39
I've recently launched a new podcast in which we read book
47:43
series to completion. Hannah was our first guest for
47:46
our first episode, which we released last month, and that
47:50
was on the calculation of volume.
47:53
And we already covered that first book last year as part of
47:57
the International Booker Prize. And we have also just uploaded
48:02
our second episode in which we've discussed Book 2IN that
48:07
series. So definitely jump in and read
48:10
along with us. We're going to read that series
48:12
through until we've completed every single book.
48:16
Check out the novel series wherever you listen to podcasts.
48:19
We've covered other. Award winners and shortlists,
48:20
including the Booker Prize. Subscribe on whatever podcast
48:23
platform you're listening on so you don't miss the next
48:25
episodes. You can find me on Instagram at
48:27
C under score, F under score writes and you can find.
48:30
Me on Instagram at Books 2026 and that's books with AZ at the
48:37
end and you can find. Me Aaron Rice Media All of our
48:42
Instagrams are down below. Share this episode.
48:44
With the book lover you think would like this book?
48:46
Rate the podcast 5 stars and let's end on a final quote from
48:49
figures crossing the field towards the group.
48:52
I figure why leave when the world is suddenly all nine, even
48:56
if it's for a short R only for a brief time.
49:01
Bookies. Out.
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Bye.