Ep. 103 S A Jones – The Fortress

Jonathon Bridge has the corner office, the tailored suits, and the impeccable pedigree. He has a fascinating wife, a child on the way, and a string of nubile lovers on the side. He’s a man who’s going places. His world is our world: the same chaos and sprawl, haves and have-nots, men and women, skyscrapers and billboards. But it also exists alongside a vast, self-sustaining city-state called The Fortress where the indigenous inhabitants – the Vaik – continue to live much as they have always done. The Vaik is an all-female civilisation.

Jonathon has offered himself as a supplicant in The Fortress after his pregnant wife Adalia discovered the ugly sexual violence pervading his top-tier firm. She has agreed to continue their fractured relationship on the condition he enters The Fortress for one year.

Jonathon is utterly unprepared for what will happen to him over the course of the year – not only to his body but his mind and his heart.

This absorbing, confronting, and moving novel asks questions about consent, power, love, and fulfilment. It asks what it takes for a man to change and whether change is possible without a radical reversal of the conditions that seem normal.

Read more about S A Jones here

2 comments

  1. Hi Rose
    What a fascinating interview. I must say that just reading the synopsis put me off initially but the interview makes the book more nuanced and interesting. SA doesn’t seem to be banging a great feminist drum or as she says creating a policy manifesto, which makes it more appealing.
    The idea of a man essentially being a ‘second class citizen ‘ in such a society, as many women are in patriarchal societies is very interesting.
    Will give it a go.
    cheers
    Glenda

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    1. Hi Glenda

      Yes it’s safe to say it’s an interesting premise, I liked it as it wasn’t just the run of the mill story that seems to be everywhere at the moment.

      Have you read Charlotte Wood’s book “The Natural Way of Things”? That is a great read, I think you’d like that.

      Rose The Book Podcast – talking with Australian Women Writers

      Website: http://www.thebookpodcast.com Facebook: @thebookpodcast Twitter: @thebookpodcast Email: thebookpodcast@gmail.com Itunes: thebookpodcast – (http://bit.ly/iTunesTBP) Instagram: #thebookpodcast Mobile: 0412501042

      On Sun, Mar 24, 2019 at 1:37 PM The Book Podcast wrote:

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