Absolutely obsessed with this book! There are so many things relatable to the world we live in today even though this takes place in the 80s. The writing was so well done and hooked me in and I absolutely loved and related to the characters. From a closeted father, a mother at the end of her wits, and an outspoken daughter, there are so many great themes that add to the addictive plot. The way this book paints a picture of the shockwaves left behind after a disappearance really was impressive. I found this book so hard to put down and the plot was unique and exciting the whole way through. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.

In the winter of 1982, 15 year old Bridget is tired of her family’s secrets, and the perfection her mother wants their family to project. Flyers on the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp catch her attention, and when an opportunity arises, she runs away to join the protest. But her running away impacts her whole family, her father’s secrets come to light and her mother discovers parts of herself she never faced before. As the metaphorical fallout of Bridget running away (to protest the literal fallout of nuclear weapons), will her family be able to pick up the pieces?

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this novel.

This should be required reading. Fallout is a fierce, tender, unforgettable story—just like the author.

Eleanor Anstruther’s Fallout is the kind of novel you don’t want to put down, and when you finally do, the characters follow you everywhere. I read it with that sense of urgent intimacy that comes when a story feels startlingly alive, when its people feel like ones you’ve known and wish you’d leaned in closer to understand. Emotional honesty runs through every page. Bridget’s runaway fire, her mother’s quiet implosion, her father’s long-held secrets. Each pulled me closer, revealing how a family can fracture and still find its way back toward truth. The winter of 1982 rises off the page with a raw, electric charge, and yet the questions it carries are timeless: What do we inherit without knowing? How do we begin again when the old ways collapse? What if the secrets we fear most might actually save us?

There’s humor here too—sharp, sly, perfectly timed—but always in service of something deeper. By the end, I felt as if I’d witnessed three people learning to live more honestly inside their own lives, quietly inviting the reader to do the same. Fallout left me moved, shaken, and unexpectedly hopeful. A brilliant, big-hearted novel that feels both intimate and expansive, and one that lingers long after the last page.

Anstruther writes with a clear, steady style that gives weight to small decisions and their long reach. This is a family story first, with secrets and loyalties pulling at each chapter. The setting feels specific, the timelines are easy to track, and the voices sound like people with history. I liked how the past presses on the present without turning the book into a lesson. You get rooms, letters, and awkward conversations that feel true, and the tension comes from what each person is willing to say out loud.

Scenes close at natural stopping points that make it simple to keep going, clues are planted early, and reveals land without tricks. The point of view shifts are purposeful and help you see the same event from angles that matter. Side characters have their own aims, so the story keeps moving even when the lead needs time to think. The tone stays serious but never sinks into gloom for shock value. If you enjoy character first fiction where truth is uncovered piece by piece, this hits the mark.

I rated this book four stars because the voice is consistent, the momentum holds, and several images stuck with me the next day. It is thoughtful and tense at the same time, with clean sentences and a focus on people over spectacle. I would hand this to readers who like layered family dramas, questions of inheritance and responsibility, and endings that feel earned.

nteresting book giving a “snapshot” of the history of Greenham Commons, which is a story of feminist activism. Based true events in England in the 1980s when a group of woman attempted to prevent the installation of American cruise missiles.

This is a coming-of-age novel. Fifteen year old Bridget runs away from her dull town and uptight parents to join the Greenham Commons protest. What she finds is a dizzying world of people some like her and some so unlike her. This opens Bridget’s eyes to the diversity of the world and the need to preserve this. In the meantime, the secrets Bridget’s family has hidden emerge which also shows that underneath our skins we are all striving for acceptance.

The writing is uncomplicated and terse which contributes to the success of this book.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Empress Editions for allowing me to read this great book.

Before reading this book, I had (somehow) never heard about the history of Greenham Common. This book has opened a door for me into exploring that history further. This is a tale of family, belonging and becoming. Activism and feminism, the book touches on a lot of important topics. I found the book easy to get through, with some unexpected twists keeping me drawn in.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for access to this book.

I got this an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in April. This was interesting. I wasn't sure what to expect but I got invested in what becomes a story of the good and the bad of activism and the complications of queerness in that era. It wasn't an easy light story but a deep coming of age, no matter the age of the characters. I was fully invested in these flawed characters. * Please note that it doesn't just tell of the events of the time, as it is historical fiction, but that the language will reflect the language of that time as well. The book has a lot of casual discrimination in there, because that happened back then too.

Fallout reminds me a bit of Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army: both books focus on women's political movements and communes, both reckon with sexuality and reproductive rights, and both have protagonists who are trying to find their ways in the world, enduring abuse to become who they want to be. In Fallout, Bridget, an unhappy and naive teen, becomes attached to a protest camp set up by women trying to stop the proliferation of nuclear missiles. Her mother, desperate to keep the facade of her family intact, goes after her daughter only to find herself caught up in the movement, as well as rediscovering her sexuality. And Bridget's father, a closeted transwoman who has channeled his fear and despair into becoming and WWIII prepper, is able to finally admit his true persona to his wife. Ansthruther does a terrific job of creating these and other characters of the book, giving them depth and having the reader understand them with a single phrase or action, and the historical research she's done pays off in communicating what the camp was like and giving it context without being the least pedantic. Fallout is an excellent examination of British life during the Thatcher years, complex and compelling.

fun, unique, and effective book with cool characters throughout, though at moments it meanders. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

The other day I binged Netflix' grand (kind of) Russian monarchy series "The Great", which opens each episode with the asteriks-marked comment: "an occasionally true story". The same could be said for Eleanor Anstruther's soon to be published novel "Fallout", which (re)tells stories of some of the women of the Women of Greenham Common initiative, plus some of their husbands and neighbors involved. Remember the 1980s, when the superpowers wanted to deploy nuclear missiles in the world (namely in Europe), in order to be ready for the next world war. The Women of Greenham Common in the UK, and numerous other anti-armament and anti-atomic movements and initiatives in England and elsewhere would not have it. Anstruther paints a documentary and very realistic picture of those years, by writing about her fictional heroines Bridget (aged 15, soon 16), Janet (her mom, young housewife and dinner woman at the local school, eventually joining the fighters at the camp), Kate (her neighbor, mother of 5 girls and married to her self-declared but in reality not so much feminist husband Simon), Annabelle (lesbian in the closet and art teacher at the local school), Monica (one of the very few black woman, who joined the all-white mostly middle-class CND movement) and several others. Don't forget Ray, a very special "man", Janet's husband and a bit strange-dash-mysterious in his anti-fallout-shelter obsession (and more I won't say here, in order not to spoil). Anstruther feels a lot of love for all her characters, and they are all protagonists in their own right, all equally important in her narrative. A nice feature, which makes the book an enjoyable and interesting read. I would have granted her 5 stars for this work, but I have to say that the eventually foreseeable and somewhat abrupt ending leaves too much open. Because, after all, this is meant to be fiction, so it could have an ending (or several endings). Unless it is meant to get a follow-up, so that we can accompany Bridget and her little brother into a very different future or get to know, whether Janet and Ray managed to live happy ever after, after all. I am, however, clearly grateful for having with Eleanor Anstruther's "Fallout" a novel to give to my daughter's daughter and their friends, because I would not want to have those female-feminist struggles of the 1960s/70s/80s and after forgotten. So, go and enjoy this "occasionally true story", because, indeed, it has happened.

@Eleanor Anstruther captures the tension of the early 1980s perfectly, as families scrambled to build fallout shelters as the Protect and Survive leaflets dropped through letterboxes. Bridget's father is no exception, and he is hoarding tins, provisions and a bucket in the downstairs toilet; however, for Bridget, staying at home is not an option. In this fast-paced and vital novel, which documents a pivotal time in history, we join Bridget as she discovers the Greenham Common Peace Camp and follow the stories of those already there and those who come to understand its power and importance. Life is not all it seems at face value, either for Bridget's own family, and there are twists and turns along the way for those Bridget is closest to.

This is a powerful book that packs a punch and has you turning the pages for more.

Wholeheartedly recommend.

Fallout is a sharply witty, emotionally rich novel set in Thatcher’s Britain. It follows fifteen‑year‑old Bridget, who rebels against suburban indolence by joining the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp - a choice that sends shockwaves through her silent, tightly wound family. With dark humour and incisive characterisation, Ansthruther explores identity, politics, societal expectations, and the messy ways families fracture and re‑form under pressure. This is a story that is both heartfelt and insightful, a really stirring read.

I enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were well developed and interesting. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Interesting novel set in 1980s Britain. Captures the atmosphere nicely and the events of Greenha, common. Written in easy to read style with fallout reflecting events for one family as well as Britain. Thanks to the author. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This novel offers a solid, engaging look at family rupture and personal awakening set against a politically charged moment in British history.

Set during the winter of 1982, the story follows fifteen-year-old Bridget as she runs away from her suburban life to join the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Her anger feels raw and believable, and her sharp sense of justice gives the book's opening real momentum. Bridget’s decision acts as a catalyst, forcing her parents—each quietly suffocating in their own way—to confront long-buried truths.

The book is strongest when it focuses on the family dynamics. Bridget’s mother’s gradual political and personal awakening is compelling, if sometimes a bit on the nose, and her father’s internal conflict adds emotional weight even when the narrative doesn’t fully explore it. The alternating perspectives help flesh out the family, though the pacing occasionally falters as the novel juggles political context alongside personal drama.

While the novel doesn’t always balance its humor and seriousness perfectly, it succeeds in capturing a moment of cultural upheaval and the quieter revolutions happening within one family. The protest setting adds urgency, but the heart of the story remains firmly rooted in questions of identity, secrecy, and change.

Overall, this is an interesting and thoughtful read—more reflective than explosive—that will appeal to readers drawn to character-driven stories set against real historical movements.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story blew me away. Set in Newbury, England in 1982, Bridget is a teenager with parents who don't understand her at all. Faking their signature for an "art trip" she ends up at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. (In 1980, England agreed to house US cruise missiles at the RAF base in Greenham Common without any public debate. Women for Life on Earth coordinated a march from Cardiff to Greenham Common in August 1981 protesting nuclear weapons on English soil. Once at Greenham Common more women joined, some setting up permanent camps.)

I had never heard of this but then, I'm not from England and I was a struggling teen at the same time. I love learning from novels and I love it even more when they inspire me to find out more, especially when they have some level of fact to them.

Bridget is the first main character but as the story unfolds, more main characters appear. Bridget's mother seems fairly conservative and in her search for her runaway daughter, she finds more than she bargained for. Bridget's father is doomsday prepping for nuclear fallout and seems to be in control of his domain, until he isn't. The community is fractured too. The novel weaves its characters through the protest and the political turmoil of the time, showing their struggles and small triumphs in a beautifully human way. I loved this from beginning to end.

A coming-of-age novel full of self discovery at the height of political questioning during 80s England.
15 year old Bridget runs away from her home and finds herself liberated at Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, learning about herself and the people that surround her. As family secrets bubble to the surface, Greenham emphasises the importance of community, acceptance and love. I like to consume a lot of media from the 80s but truthfully knew very little about Greenham Common, until I read this book!

I like how the book is based off true events and really pays homage to the feminists who were fighting for peace. The research that went into this book is clear and you can tell it is a labour of love, it paints a very vivid picture of what Greenham was like and the long term effects of the peace camp.
I found it really easy to read and enjoyed the personal journeys of all the characters, I'm now going to spend more time looking into Greenham's history and the women behind it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for access to this book

Fallout is a thoughtful, quietly impactful read. The writing is sharp and reflective, and I appreciated how the story took its time unpacking relationships and personal turning points. It is the kind of book that stays with you in subtle ways even after you finish.

I learned a great deal in this book, particularly as I hadn't heard of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp before! I think there is great value in learning about how this community activism worked (especially right now).

We get a particular snapshot through 15 year old Bridget's conservative family after she runs away to participate in Greenham herself. Bridget meets a wide variety of people and is introduced to various perspectives on both Greenham and the history leading up to it by her new peers, ranging from pleasantly liberal women, stringent leftists, and anarchists. She also sees the violence of the state and the police during her time at Greenham.

FALLOUT is intensely queer and political, while also maintaining ightness due to its dry humor and grounded authenticity. I admittedly found it a bit slow and difficult to follow in the first few chapters, but once it hit its rhythm, I quickly flew through the rest of it! If you have never heard of the Greenham Common, like myself, I really encourage you to pick up FALLOUT as your introduction to it.

Thank you to Eleanor Anstruther for providing me with an eARC of this book for review!

This review has been added to both Goodreads and Fable.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Empress Editions for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was clearly well researched and very interesting. The writing was engaging and I enjoyed reading about the characters.

FALLOUT is very queer and very political, but it never feels heavy, thanks to its dry humor and grounded tone. I did struggle a bit with the first few chapters, and it took me some time to get into it, but once it clicked, I flew through the rest. If you’ve never heard of Greenham Common like I hadn’t, I definitely recommend picking up FALLOUT as a great place to start.

Before this novel I only had a vague idea of what Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp and I am certainly now going to read more about this fascinating moment in history. (Or herstory as Cerise would say.) You can tell the author is deeply passionate about Greenham and feminism in general, it comes across as a true labour of love.

The author does an excellent job conveying the feeling of existing under patriarchy, how people are surrounded by it, crushed by it, some silently making themselves smaller and other bursting at the seems with rage. All the women in this book are wonderfully unique and varied, even the more tertiary characters feel interesting and real. There are multiples points of view throughout and not once was it confusing or annoying, which can be so ahrd for a multi pov novel to get just right.

I will say there were a few moments where use of language or imagery took me out of the book. I mean literally refering to guns as cocks is not exactly subtle or interesting messaging. I am sure there was a better way of phrasing a few things, but in general it was very engrossing to read.

For a mere 150 pages, this book really packs a punch.

Fallout is based on the Greenham Common womens peace camp back in 1982. I didn't know anything about this movement till reading the book and wow what inspiring women they were! This book is full of feminism and politics and LGBTQ lives all set in the mind frame of the unforgiving 80s. A 15 year Bridget leaves her typical working class family behind to run away and join the movement but not only is she discovering herself but her parents also do.

Fallout is the perfect title on so many different levels.

Useful context setting. ‘The Personal is Political.’ It’s 1981 and a group of women seek to raise awareness about the Government’s decision to install a base on Greenham Common to house cruise missiles which will carry nuclear warheads in the event that Russia engages in nuclear war.

Good start. Chapter One. Bridget has gone missing. Her teacher arrives at her home to say Bridget went to Greenham Common as agreed by the note her father had signed to give permission. Her family are confused. Her teacher had hoped Bridget had made her way home.

Bridget is a teenager who is getting to the stage in her growing up when her parents are no longer the ones with all the answers. Her father is preparing them all for potential nuclear bombing and her mother is going along with anything he wants to keep the peace. Bridget has the opportunity to accompany a teacher and another school pupil and her Mum to visit. She fakes a note for a visit to the Tate Gallery but her father believes it is not safe to go to London and her mother wants her to visit her grandmother. So Bridget sneaks out early on the morning of the trip. She doesn’t think she will be missed and will be likely home before her family start wondering where she’s gone.

Miss Annabel Jenkins is the art teacher who has encouraged Bridget to attend the Greenham visit. We learn a little about her past and current frustrations.

Bridget’s eyes are well and truly opened by the women protesting against the bomb. She had no idea that women could be different from her family mould of grandmother, wife and mother. For the reader unaware of the politicised 1980s and Bridget this is a consciousness raising lesson in history. A female Prime Minister, yet so many elements of women’s lives restricted by men, the patriarchy.

A time when difference is sniggered at and reviled. Ignorance from the media or the playground dictating how someone should behave, think and act. Ray Reynolds is an army veteran and already had his own house by the time Janet (Bridget’s mother) met him. He is getting everyone geared up to stockpile items for the nuclear ‘fallout’ - even creating a commode for the shelter by cutting a hole in a chair for a bucket to go beneath. But this is more than a satirical tale of the extreme fear the US and UK leaders want to create of the Russian threat to the West it is about different aspects of feminism yet several interwoven family stories.

For the Reynolds family, the Hilpertons and Annabelle Jenkins ‘the political is personal.’

For a relatively short book there were perhaps quite a few characters who were represented in a limited way so that they seemed almost like caricatures.

If you liked Jennie Godfrey’s List of Suspicious Things or her soon to be released The Barbecue at No 9 you will feel the same nostalgia for the time in which this is set. Before mobile phones and the internet…

Fallout uses the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp as its backdrop, but this isn’t just a novel about activism — it’s about what protest exposes inside a family.

Fifteen-year-old Bridget runs away to Greenham in the winter of 1982, colliding headfirst with queerness, feminism, and the messy reality of political movements. The novel doesn’t romanticize the era; the language reflects its time, including the casual prejudices that shaped it.

What impressed me most is how Anstruther handles complexity. The activists aren’t saints. The parents aren’t villains. Everyone is flawed, frightened, and trying — sometimes badly — to live honestly. There’s sharp humor threaded through real emotional weight, and the result feels both intimate and politically aware without tipping into lecture.

Smart, character-driven historical fiction that feels uncomfortably relevant.

Fifteen-year-old Bridget lives in Surbiton with her annoying little brother, her chain-smoking dinner lady mother and her nuclear-shelter-obsessed father.
Fed up of another weekend at home with them, Bridget lies that she has her parents’ permission and joins her neighbour and her art teacher on a day trip to Greenham Common.
The story reveals the transformative effect of the peace camp not only on Bridget but also on her mother-of-five, dutiful housewife neighbour; on the lonely art teacher; and on Bridget’s mother, who is forced to visit the camp when Bridget decides to take up residence there instead of going back to school.
As a youngster in 1982, I remember seeing the Greenham Common women’s peace camp on the TV news, but I had no sense of the fear or paranoia around a possible nuclear weapons strike on the UK. The first time I saw a Protect & Survive leaflet or video was last year when I visited Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, a decommissioned Cold War bunker, now a museum in Essex. Doubtless, some families turned their downstairs loo into a fallout bunker like Bridget’s dad. Maybe it was a Surbiton thing.
This is a literary story with hints of humour, coming of age and social history (albeit perhaps at times through the lens of 2026 rather than the early 1980s). Ideal for fans of feminist reading.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Upon publication I will post this review on my blog and on GoodReads.

This book was brilliant, I feel like I actually learnt so much about a time in history that I knew very little about and it made me fall in love with the story of the women at Greenham Common as well as the characters themselves. I loved it, I couldn’t put it down and now feel like I need to join a protest movement! Will be recommending this to everyone I know!

You must read 'Fallout' by Eleanor Anstruther because it is one of those books that slowly gets its grip on you and then holds on tight. It’s about a rebellious teenage girl who runs away to join the Greenham Common protest in 1982 Thatcher Britain, and she shakes her whole family out of their complacency. It’s sharp, emotional, and very darkly comedic, with complex characters and complicated truths. I loved how personal and political it feels.

Fallout had been a very reflective read, it felt uncomfortably relevant in today’s world.
First chapter gets you hooked in as Bridget gets lost, story is politically charged but it was easy to read and I could not put it down.

The historical events were well weaved with the personal fallout it had on the characters, leading to exploration of who they are and driving the story forward.
The characters felt real and interesting but I wonder if the lens we’re seeing the characters through has been a bit altered/modernised and it is not completely true to the 80s but it’s not something I can personally comment on.

Although the book covers events that happened more recently, I did not know much about the Greenham common, and it had spurred me on to do more research about it.

A quick read which I would recommend.

3.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed this book and read it in a single sitting.

It felt very hopeful and the writing style was almost musical. It takes place in the early 1980s when people felt like they were on the very cusp of WWIII and life as we could know it could be gone in an instant. So then to join the women's camp at Greenham and to live through the hope and the camaraderie of the women there was joyous. It has given me a more positive outlook on the current world situation. It was just what I needed!

The wider stories of her family felt a little bit tacked on and I would have enjoyed more detail in those. It is open to a potential sequel though,

(Feedback not on the public review - there are a number of typos in the book. Happy to provide list and locs for those if helpful)

Fallout by Eleanor Anstruther is a quietly explosive family drama set against the real-life Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in 1982. What starts as fifteen-year-old Bridget running away to join the protest quickly becomes something much bigger—a reckoning that forces her entire family to confront the secrets they’ve been living with for years.

I loved how the story expands beyond Bridget. Her mother’s unexpected transformation and her father’s tightly controlled fear of nuclear fallout (both literal and personal) add so much depth. No one is neatly redeemed, but each character feels painfully real and deeply human.

The political backdrop adds urgency, but the heart of the novel is about inheritance—silence, identity, and the courage it takes to finally break both. It’s sharp, tender, and emotionally layered. A few slower moments kept it from five stars for me, but overall this was a powerful, thought-provoking read.

The writing is sharp and darkly funny in places, but it’s also incredibly tender. There’s a quiet intensity running through the book, like something long-suppressed finally breaking the surface. Some sections moved a little slower for me, but I genuinely admired what this novel set out to do and how fearlessly it did it.

If you love character-driven historical fiction with complicated families, political edge, and deeply felt emotional reckonings, this one is worth picking up. It’s messy and honest in all the right ways.

Thank you to NetGalley and Empress Editions for this eARC!

Fallout

Set during the early 1980s of Britain's Thatcher era, Fallout is both a coming-of-age novel and a political time capsule. With the ever-increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons, a group of women formed a protest camp at the RAF base at Greenham Common. It was a protest that would last for many years.

Our first character is 15-year-old Bridget, who is frustrated and feeling misunderstood both at home and at school, so she runs away to join the protest camp. Her father is at home obsessed with prepping for a nuclear winter, while her mother attempts an outward facade that everything at home is ok. But it isn’t. The following story is one of upheavals, a fractured family during a fractured time, with humour, care and self-realisation for all.

In the end I couldn’t help but care for the characters and the times. Sometimes the pacing of the writing caught me up; otherwise, this is a novel I would highly recommend.

My thanks to Eleanor Anstruther for an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.