A world ravaged by AIDS, with a depleted population. A European Federation torn between three factions: the Procrusteans, the Libertarians and the Faithful. A Procrustean leader who enters into an unholy alliance with the Faithful to conscript women to have children. This is the harsh and savage world conjured up in The Year of Compulsory Childbirth.

But geneticist Barbara Freeman does not accept the premise that collective survival takes precedence over civil liberties. Neither does rocket scientist Darii Lawson. To these free thinkers – whose parents were members of “the Logic society” – those expedient measures carry the foul stench of dictatorship. And they are prepared to fight against the authorities.

But what weapons do they have in their arsenal when they find themselves in a minority. And how far are President Luther and Faithful leader Eric Chain prepared to go in the face of this resistance? In the end it comes down to a small band of dedicated people, including Barbara’s sisters and her aging mentor Sophia Magnus to take on the might of a tyrannical superstate.

Nigel Farringdon has created a chilling Dystopia in this book that merits comparison to Brave New World and 1984