NINA X

An award winning and moving tale of growing up in a Maoist cult, and the traumatic aftermath which explores ideas of freedom, control and identity. Nina X has never been outside. She had never met another child. Nina X has no books, no toys and no privacy. Nina X has no idea what the outside world is like. Nina X has a lot to learn. She has no mother and no father, she has Comrade Chen, and Comrades Uma, Jeni and Ruth. Her closest emotional connection is with the birds she sees when she removes the plasterboard that covers her bedroom window. Comrade Chen has named her The Project. She is being raised entirely separated from the false gods of capitalism and the cult of the self. He has her record everything in her journal to track her thoughts. To keep her ideology pure, her words are erased, over and over again. But that was before. Now Nina is in Freedom, and all the rules have changed. She has to remember that everything is opposite to what she was told, and yet Freedom seems to be a very confusing and dangerous place. A world that doesn't make sense. She is now 28 years old and on the second day of Freedom she writes: 'Today is the 30th September. A new kind of dog has been invented that doesn't make people allergic and a new kind of dinosaur has been discovered in Wales.' When Nina is treated badly by Social Services she encounters she finds herself behind new bars, sectioned. A tearful yet at times touches of humour, this novel is deeply moving. 273pp.