In a world where books are being banned this dystopian thriller does not seem so far fetched End of Story by Louise Swanson is a very unsettling read. It takes place in a time where bedtime stories are no longer a rite of passage but banned. So for an author this is heartbreaking watching book amnesties and mass destruction. Mind blowing.

Lately I really am in dystopian stories especially if they are done in such an intruiging way!
Louise Swanson takes us into a society where fiction is forbidden and writers are enemies of the public. How disturbing and gripping!
This story catches you and doesn't let you go!

Thanks #Netgalley #Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC

This story started off as one thing and ended up as another. It actually fried my brain a little. I had no idea what direction it would end up going in.
The first half was a dystopian novel, the premise of which was mind blowing. Then it switched entirely (I never saw the switch coming), but still somehow stayed connected to the first section of the novel and strands of it could be seen throughout the following section. With the switch the story took a sad and tragic turn. My emotions were all over the place with this cleverly written book.
I raced through the second half, and before I knew it, I only had half an hour to listen and the book was finished.
I really enjoyed listening to this narrator, wo kept me captivated throughout the book.

'End of Story' by Louise Swanson was an incredible listen set in 2032 but, touches on the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. This is a phenomenonal book that will keep you guessing until the end and is very cleverly written. In 2032, books are banned. There are no works of fiction, only non-fiction, the truth and facts are allowed. People are encouraged to burn their fiction books yet, some have kept them from the authorities and meet secretly to read these stories to young children. This book has stayed with me and Swanson had me believing this book. A heartbreaking tale of love and loss.

This is an engaging story, that moves at a steady pace and is narrated well. The protagonist is likeable and it's easy to be sympathetic despite the setting.

However, I found the twist annoying and the ending frustrating. I think if I had known how this story ended I perhaps wouldn't have started/requested this title.

This felt like a story within a story, a kind of Christopher Nolan-type tale. It was eerie and scary even to imagine that there can be a time when you are not allowed to tell stories or have books. Can you imagine what that would do to us readers? Well, thank god this was just fiction. Definitely worth a listen.

Oh my goodness, End of Story was wonderful. I don't want to mention the storyline because I do not wish to give other readers even a hint of what happens. Every so often a book comes along and is simply so good that I can't quite describe it. It pulls me in and captures my thoughts completely. This is one of those books. Everything about it is just perfect and it is a pleasure to read.

I loved listening to this book. The narration was perfect and the concept of fiction within fiction was a great new and interesting premise. Looking at the mind and the power that trauma can have on it, I felt a lot of research went into this novel. An amazing debut and I cannot wait for more from this author

This book was so unique and cleverly done. The type of story that stays with you for a long time afterwards. Got very attached to Hunter and his ‘crazy lady!’ Really enjoyed it.

I try not to read the synopsis of a book before reading because I like the surprise journey it's going to take me on. This book was definitely one that had a lot of twists and turns. What started out with a dystopian feel turned into a book of crushing loss and determination. The main character in this book was a fighter and never gave up on her love of books and the power of books. The book was written away that felt like it wasn't a million miles away from possible in terms of the dystopian elements. But when the book explored more in-depth, the main character is motivations and her struggles it became a heart wrenching story. I'm full of mixed emotions after reading this book. The dystopian storyline felt so real, especially in light of all the current media stories at the minute. The main character was likable and well written. Are times the story did feel a bit repetitive and dragged out unnecessarily and that is the only reason I have given it four stars.
Trigger warnings, death violence, physical abuse, child loss, mental abuse.

An very interesting audio book. Set in the future, a scifi story.
Personally it was too farfetched for me but would recommend for a big scifi fan.

Presented as the diary of protagonist and former Fiction Laureate - Fern Dostoy, this tale documents her life after the ban on the reading and writing of fiction books in 2030.


When Fern was still writing she was the author of a profound work known as Technological Amazingness, this book ended up being one of the ‘Big 4’ that lead to the fiction books. Books become demonised like video games, metal and hip hop still are today. People will always be are afraid of things they don’t understand.

As such Fern is closely monitored by the government to ensure she is not breaking the fiction ban. Now a cleaner in a hospital she has been forced to change her name to Fern Dalrimple to keep a low profile. Her husband Cal sadly died of covid-19 some time earlier and they never had children so she lives a lonely life, trying to keep under the radar and in her minders good books. However when she is approached by a past writing friend, she is drawn to join an underground network of people dedicated to reading children bedtime stories and keeping their dreams alive.



The closeness in the historical backdrop to the truth of the present day is both genius and slightly terrifying in its believability of the way this builds up to the ban. The only thing that wasn’t realistic is the fact the NHS still exists and hasn’t been made extinct by mismanagement from governments like all other public services.



I was truly enthralled by this book, so many twists and turns. I really didn’t know what to expect, but for me this was brilliant, if you love a fast paced thriller with a lot of tension then you will enjoy this. I was so sad it had to end as it was such a rollercoaster of emotions throughout, I felt a bond with the characters.



The narrator was excellent, expressive, wonderfully natural character reading and accents. I would certainly look for more read by her.

4.5 rounded up

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

End of Story
Louise Swanson

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What an utterly unique, refreshing, emotional and totally brilliant book!

I'm going in vague with the plot (again) as I hate giving spoilers.....but this is written in multiple segments - a bit like a before, during and after but much more complex than that.
We follow ex-author Fern through a journey in a dystopian future where books have been banned and how life is now....whilst also reminiscing about how life was before....

It was a total roller coaster of emotions throughout - joy, sadness, hope, fear, love and hate and I was completely there with Fern the whole time.
Not only was her character completely addictive, the writing just immersed you in her world for the duration.

I had my theories about the plot and of course was completely wrong. Not a million miles away, but the outcome was not at all what I had expected. With the last segment somehow dragging you even further in.

I think the cover is pretty striking but still not sure that I'd have rushed to grab it off the shelves and the blurb really doesn't give too much away - However, I am so pleased that I did sign up for this one as I really don't think I've read anything quite so compelling in a while.

Very clever, superbly written and presented, an emotion roller coaster and totally, totally addictive! I think that Fern and this book will stay with me for a long time!

The year is 2035 and Fern Dostoy is a scared and desperate woman. In her old life she was a bestselling author, one that had won awards for her books. But just after the success of her last book, Technological Amazingness, things changed. A law was brought in that banned fiction books – fiction was removed from the shops and libraries, people were made to destroy the books in their homes and even fictional TV programmes and films were banned. The only books available for sale are non-fiction. Children are not able to to hear stories from their parents or in school and because of this, they can’t sleep and are having to be medicated.
Fern was told she had to stop writing. She was moved to a new home and had to take on a new identity, working as a cleaner in a hospital. She sees hardly anyone – her husband has died and she was unable to have children and she can’t trust anyone. She has regular visits from two men who check she is still following the rules but despite this she has decided to keep a handwritten diary, talking about what is happening to her now and also explaining how the world came to be like this.
Isn’t it a nightmare scenario? The removal of fiction and books from our lives would be devastating to me. Books are how I escape from real life – they teach me things and I have to read before I sleep or I can’t drop off. Poor Fern is in a sorry state and her diary reflects this. There were some parts which I found odd to start with but without giving too much away, the book does resolve these issues. I loved the “Bedtime Stories” initiative set up where children can ring a secret number and be read bedtime stories by a group of volunteers.
As with books that introduce an extreme scenario, it is difficult to imagine how society can get to this point and it is utterly terrifying! I really enjoyed End of Story – each diary entry left me wanting more and the story is very clever. For fans of dystopian fiction, this is a must read.

Powerfully emotional thriller that isn’t at all what you think!

This is the first book I’ve read by Louise Swanson but, flippin’ heck, it WILL NOT BE THE LAST! I have been glued to my headphones, devouring this incredible novel. I was immediately intrigued by the premise - a not too distant future where fiction books have been banned - but what I was not expecting was a story that would take me on a rollercoaster of emotions, sucker-punch me right in the gut and actually make me shed a tear (only one book has previously achieved that in my lifetime). It’s incredibly hard to review this book without giving away too much, but what I will say is that it is exceptional. It has one of the most unexpected twists I’ve ever read. And we are talking proper flip-everything-on-it’s-head-make-you-rethink-everything-you’ve-read twist, not just an excellently presented reveal. I thought this book was one thing, but in reality it is something so much more powerful that is beautifully executed. It made me gasp, it made me bubble with anger, it clutched my heart (and it squeezed and twisted it), it hit nerves, it made me think and it’s taken root in a little part of my soul.

End of Story is a profound book that is topical, important and cuts terrifyingly close to the bone. It’s incredibly thematic and thought-provoking. Swanson tackles a variety of subjects, some of which are really hard-hitting. I enjoyed the political exploration. The ban on fiction is a fantastic allegory for the current political turmoil we endure, particularly when taken into account in relation to the pandemic and the physical restrictions on our freedoms that we have weathered. It’s also a vehicle to explore the corruption and self-interest of those in power, with a particular emphasis on the impact this has to the NHS. It is scary how this vision of the future feels so horrifyingly palpable. However, what resonated most evocatively with me, is how this story is about relationships, expression and grief. The narrative is about the relationships we have with our children: the importance of them, the impact of a hectic modern life, and the need to make sure our priorities are right. It’s also about loss and grief. Fern’s husband was a casualty of the pandemic, a pain many of us are still feeling. However, the release of writing and expressing her feelings is so important in Fern’s recovery. Swanson writes about both grief and writing as an art form with such beauty. Her words really resonate and this is a story I will never forget. I won’t divulge more, because it’s a story that demands to be read. It’s a novel that will mean so many different things to so many different people. I implore you to read it!

I listened to the audiobook of End of Story, which I was very gratefully granted access to from @hodderbooks via NetGalley. The narration is pitch perfect and really drew me into the novel. The narrator breathed life into all the various characters and I could always follow who was speaking. I thought the chapters ending mid sentence (a technique used by Fern to encourage her to return to her writing) worked with particular effect in the audio. The jolt of a sentence finishing mid-flow really acted as a fantastic reminder of the restrictions the fiction ban enforced and its stifling of writers. It creates tension and a desire to keep listening, which made it really hard to take my headphones off! I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook and highly recommend it.

END OF STORY is released on 23/03 from @hodderbooks. My huge thanks to the publisher for the advance copy (and @laurapauthor for sending me her spare proof copy).

Having already read an ebook version I was eager to listen to this hard hitting, dystopian novel about the loss of fiction. It took me a while to get used to the narrator's depiction of the story but once I became immersed into the surreal but believable world where novels are banned, I was hooked again.
Louise Swanson's storytelling and imagination is superb and the twists unexpected.

Thanks to Netgalley for the audiobook.

Overall, if dystopian thrillers are your bag then you will probably devour this quite easily. I'm not averse to the genre (I probably mainly have read YA ones) but this one just fell flat at the end for me. Probably because I was wrapped up in the fact that this was a dystopian thriller, and then it wasn't. I didn't really like the twist or the ending. It made me kinda switch off.
Although I'm sure a lot of people would like it.

If you want incredible writing, complex faceted characters or an actual dystopian novel, don't go for this. If you want something fast paced that will hook you early and keep you guessing, then this is for you. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

I was so looking forward to reading this book. I’ve read and loved all the authors previous books but unfortunately I struggled with this one. This is a dystopian fiction and this genre I’ve now realised isn’t for me. I so much wanted to love this book but it just don’t work for me. It’s definitely me and not the book. 2.5⭐️

End of Story by Louise Swanson Narrated by Sophie Bentinck.
"Now, Could you imagine in the future All fiction books could be banned by the government!!! for five years!!!! Thats a Long time without a book to read!!!
What we do?
Sure thing this world would be a different place to live in!!!!!"

Headlines!.............In the year 2035 All fiction has been banned by the government for five years. Writing novels is a Crime.
Even 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: all her work is on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children;

Hunter, is a young boy who calls her and has captured her heart. As she learns more about him, something is telling her can not she trust him! she also feels Hunter is hiding something! What is it!

She waits for a knock on her door.........for the dreaded visits from government officials.

This audiobook was a strange one, but very interesting
Could you imagine not reading books or books on your kindle in the future!?
What would you do? Hmmmmmmm

I highly recommend this audiobook and the Narrator was good.

Big Thank you to Netgalley, the author Louise Swanson and Hodder & Stoughton for my audiobook and ARC.

In a Nutshell: Cant reveal much without spoiling the story, but you’ll get just a cryptic clue: it’s dystopian, but it’s not dystopian. Intelligent writing, innovative plotline, impactful characters. Definitely worth a read, even if you aren’t a fan of the dystopian genre.

Story Synopsis:
November 2035. Fiction has been banned since 5 years, and fiction authors have been asked to stay isolated and under the radar. Fifty-two-year-old Fern Dalrymple is one such ex-fiction-author who currently works as a cleaner at minimum wage. But Fern is no pushover, and she doesn’t want to extinguish her love of writing. So she has found a creative way of going against the ban: she is writing about her routine life in her notepad. That’s not fiction, is it? Moreover, she joins a secret group that narrates bedtime stories to sleep-deprived children over the phone. However, the random visits from government officials unnerve her, and now Fern wonders if her secret is out. Is Fern at risk?
The story comes to us mostly through Fern’s notepad scrawls written in first person.

This is the kind of story that is very easy to mess up with spoilers, so I will be very vague in my feedback.

Where the book worked for me:
😍 “If you tell a story well enough, it’s true.” – Fern’s catchphrase in the book that works on so many levels despite its obvious simplicity.
😍 Fern’s being a fiction author automatically means that her journal entries ought to display her prowess in writing. They do! The little comments about non sequitur characters and character backstories and so on were intelligently done.
😍 The book is written in five parts, each named after the five stages of grief. You will find Fern’s thoughts aligning with the specific grief stage perfectly without going too far. (And when it does become farfetched, you’ll know the reason for it later.)
😍 I had a long list of plot holes written in my draft review as I proceeded with the audio. Questions about Fern’s odd behaviour, about some weird people and some random events. Every single loophole was fixed in the final quarter.
😍 The plot became weirder and creepier as it moved ahead. I kept wondering how the author was going to resolve this nightmare of a situation. My rating too kept dipping in sync with my progress. And then… **something happened**….and zhoooop!!! (That was the sound of my rating shooting up to the top once again!)
😍 The writing – sheer brilliance. Beautiful, impactful, thoughtful.
😍 The descriptions are so vivid! No matter what scene, I could visualise it clearly in my mind.
😍 As a fiction lover, I found this book a nightmare. Oh, to picture a world without fiction – what a tragedy! I loved how it stressed on the importance of fiction (and I did get some heebie-jeebies at the way fiction was treated.)
😍 You will find some events seemingly inspired from dystopian classics such as Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Keep your patience. There’s a reason behind every such reference.
😍 The title is perfect for the book in more ways than you can realise now.
😍 Despite being slow-paced, the story had enough going on to keep me hooked. (It is literary fiction and thus heavily character-oriented. So the slow pace is to be expected.)
😍 I had requested this book mainly on seeing the part about the ban on fiction. But the book spoke not just to the bibliophile in me but also to the woman and the mother in me. I hadn’t expected such an emotional impact.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
😒 A few of the dystopian scenes were too graphic for me. This might not be a problem for all readers.
(If you do feel uncomfortable at those scenes, do not give up on the book. I can’t tell you why. Just trust me on this.)
😒 Some part of the final reveal feels a bit dragged, though I do see why they were necessary in the broader sense. I guess I was just impatient to find out more as soon as possible!

The audiobook experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 12 hours, is narrated by Sophie Bentinck. Just one word for her performance: WOW!! She suited Fern in age and emotions. Her voices for the other characters too were mostly on track. If you are an audiobook lover, I would definitely recommend you try this on audio.

Note: The chapter endings in the initial half or so are quite abrupt. Don’t assume that this is a defect in your audio/digital/print copy. It is a deliberate writing choice, and you will get the reason for it if you stay patient.

I am not a dystopian fiction lover, especially one set in the real world. I feel very uncomfortable and claustrophobic when I read scenes that might just happen in reality. This book took made me very anxious in between. However, as it proceeded to an ending that proceeds so well from the main plot, I couldn’t help but admire the brilliance of the author. (I am SO going to look up more of her works!!!))
What I am trying to say is, this book isn’t only for dystopian fiction fans. So don’t disregard the book by its genre even if you don’t read dystopian works. (In fact, a part of me feels it will not work as well for dystopian book lovers.)
Strongly recommended to all literary fiction readers. Pick it up when you can focus on it, because it is not to be speed-read – every chapter contains many clues that you will require as you move ahead. This is easily going to be one of my top adult fiction reads for the year.

4.5 stars.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “End of Story”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.