Browne Candidate by Nicole Kurtz Search Amazon for other books by or about Nicole Kurtz. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

In a post-apocalyptic world in which floating cities block out the sunlight from the people on the ruined surface of the earth, religious extremists have taken over the process of human fertilization. Women are blamed as falling from grace and hence incapable of giving birth while fathers are lauded as the true givers of life. Since their wives are unable to provide them with children, fathers turn to the candidacy to provide young women who are fertile and with whom they can have children. The young women concerned are bought from their parents and kept as sex slaves. Meanwhile the Resistance fights bravely against the UWC- the United World Council that seems to control the floating cities and intends to dominate life on the planet, for some no doubt very potent but unstated reason.

One of the unfortunate women, Aurora Browne, is sold into this slavery by her mother, who is working as a prostitute. By the age of eighteen, she has already given birth to three children who are taken away from her and she spends much of the time planning how to escape from the daily beatings and humiliation. She is claimed for the fourth time by the Williams family and, while living in their palatial house, encounters the male prostitute Bain with whom she swiftly falls in love and hopes to escape with to join the Resistance or, indeed, anywhere else.

This is an entertaining romp although the plot falls to pieces if it is looked at too rigorously, as does the technology described. The characters are mostly one-dimensional and scarcely develop at all. However, the sense of place is at least present as the impact of the ever-present cold is kept in mind throughout the narrative. This is the sort of book that can be read on a train or bus journey and slip down quite easily, just like the peaches and bananas that are somehow produced in the icy wastes of New England Tre.