Set in an alternate England of 1923, S.F. Williamson's beguiling dark academia YA fantasy A Language of Dragons combines a slow-burning enemies-to-lovers romance with a twisty tale of conflict, secrets and betrayals, as an intern studying dragon languages accidentally starts a civil war. In this exclusive piece, the author shares her favourite children's and YA books set in alternate realities.
Books set in alternate realities allow us to see our own world with a twist, to stare past the familiarities and look at “the way things are done” in a different light.
When writing A Language of Dragons, set in a 1920s version of London in which humans and dragons co-exist, I had great fun creating a different take on the quintessential Britishness of Bletchley Park code-breaking, a boarding school-esque setting and the class system of the Roaring Twenties while exploring Britain’s darker underlying history of discrimination and linguistic suppression.
In making the familiar strange, we see both what’s wonderful and wrong about it. For me, reading about the world as I know it populated by mythical beasts, run by a totalitarian government or steeped in magic is as immersive and exhilarating as any fantasy novel.
For more than fifty years, Britain has been haunted by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts that can only be seen by children and teenagers. Lucy Carlyle arrives in London hoping for a career as a supernatural investigator but instead ends up joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the young and charismatic Anthony Lockwood. I love how terrifying the ghosts are with their ability to kill and– even more terrifying– how children in this world have to give up their childhoods to train as ghost hunters.
One of my all-time favourite books. Its alternate version of Oxford and Jordan College, animal-daemons and re-imagined quantum physics inspired my love for ambitious, clever worldbuilding.
In a steampunk version of London, Lontown, twins Arthur and Maudie set out on a race to South Polaris, the southernmost point in the world, to find out how their explorer father died and restore their family name. With its sky-ships, unique creatures and a genuinely heart-felt sibling bond, this makes for a wondrous middle-grade alternate reality read.
In a post-Brexit version of Britain called Albion in which the far-right has risen to power and the country is at war with Europe, Alan and his brother are evacuated to Kernow (Cornwall). I’m a sucker for anything dystopian, although a story about a child growing up in a far-right country feels ominously relevant to our times. This is such a compelling story about tolerance and family in a fascist society.
Patrick Ness and dragons is the ultimate combo in my eyes, and this is set in a 1950s America amid the Cold War. Sarah’s father has hired a dragon to work on their farm, something only the poorest resort to. It’s a gloriously weird, totally cinematic novel that seamlessly weaves dragons into America’s past.
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